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M. Continuo

Germany, Italy eye joint approach on fiscal compact


    ROME (Reuters) - Italy and Germany will send high-level officials to each other's capitals to witness ratification of Europe's fiscal pact, a symbolic move underlining Berlin's support for Rome's unpopular measures to cut the world's fourth biggest public debt.

    Under the plan, announced on Thursday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble will visit Rome to see parliament approve of the pact and an official from Italy will do the same in Berlin, Francesco Tufarelli, a senior Italian foreign ministry official said.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel has strongly backed Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's reforms to cut the debt load and mend the dented confidence of jittery financial markets that has threatened the future of the euro currency.

    "Italy and Germany are aware of their great responsibility for the stability of Europe and therefore have a strong interest in a swift and convincing ratification of the fiscal pact in their national parliaments," a German official told Reuters in Berlin.

    In a demonstration of political solidarity, Merkel has started to echo Monti's calls for more growth-boosting measures in Europe to complement the German-inspired emphasis on getting public finances back on a sound footing.

    But Merkel also continues to insist on the central importance of the 'fiscal compact', endorsed by 25 of the European Union's 27 member states at a summit last December, in overcoming the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.

    Berlin rebuffed calls from Socialist candidate Francois Hollande during the French presidential election campaign to unpick the fiscal charter. Hollande, who has since toned down his rhetoric, is tipped to win a runoff vote on Sunday.

    A date for the ratifications has not yet been set. Merkel hopes to win parliamentary approval of the compact before the summer recess, though opposition lawmakers have suggested the timetable may be pushed back into the autumn.

    The chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German Bundestag (lower house of parliament), Gunter Krichbaum, said two Italian lawmakers would attend meetings of two German parliamentary committees on May 23.

    EU states have until the end of the year to ratify the pact.

    (Reporting By Stefano Bernabei in Rome and Andreas Rinke in Berlin; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)