Matteo Renzi: "We should not invest in fear, but in a future for our children"

Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi pleaded in favour of focussing on investment rather than austerity to revive Europe's economy in a speech at the European Parliament, where he was for a review of his country's presidency of the Council over the last six months. "In recent year Europe gave the impression of being too focussed on the economy, on constraints and parameters: this was a mistake," he said.

Matteo Renzi
Matteo Renzi (right) during his speech at the European Parliament

"It is absolutely essential that we all fight to overcome this situation of economic recession and austerity," Renzi continued. "We should not invest in fear. We should not invest in failure. We should invest in success and in a future for our children." 


Referring to the attacks in Paris last week, Renzi urged caution when coming up with new measures to tackle terrorism: "Without freedom, there can be no security."


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