Kazakhstan, Astana, May 25 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
European countries need a truce to calm financial markets, former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said during the debate on 'Dialogue of leaders: new financial and economic policy' as part of the V Astana Economic Forum.
"I fully agree with my colleague, Tony Blair that a long term strategy is indispensable to overcome the crisis, but its development will take time, something what we don't have. If refinance rates constantly rise for example, as in Greece, we will not have the time and opportunity for reform as such a high rate of refinancing will destroy the financial system," Prodi said. In his opinion, Europe needs to develop a long term strategy.
"In addition, we need an immediate truce to calm the financial markets because it is currently a problem," the former prime minister of Italy said.
At the same time, he expressed the hope that "there will be light at the end of the tunnel".
"Today the Obama administration and China are concerned about the situation in Europe, especially on withdrawal of Greece from the euro zone and I hope that we can reach a truce in order to calm financial markets before the European summit in June this year," Prodi said.