Apply strict austerity measures, lose majority: Italy PM

Rome, Dec 21 (IANS/EFE) Governments that apply "strict" austerity measures, even if they achieve positive growth, "are destined to lose majority", Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said.

Renzi's remarks came in an article released on his website on Monday on the results of the election held on Sunday in Spain.

The prime minister, who has held the post since February 2014 without having been elected in the polls, noted that "the Spanish election is interesting" because it completes what has already happened in Greece and Portugal.

"As it has happened already in Greece and Portugal, governments that apply strict austerity measures ... are destined to lose their majority," he added.

Renzi believes that the results of the Spanish elections produced a "difficult situation" because "everybody says they had a good result, everybody says there is a need to agree on a coalition government, everybody says reforms are needed: this is Spain today, but it looks like yesterday's Italy".

--IANS/EFE

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