New Italian economy minister: no euro exit proposal on tap

ROME (AP) – Italy’s economy minister says the new populist government isn’t discussing any proposal to leave the eurozone.

Minister Giovanni Tria, in an interview in Sunday’s Corriere della Sera newspaper, said “not only do we not want to exit” the 19-member shared currency union, but the coalition is determined to act so conditions don’t occur to “put our presence in the euro(zone) up for discussion.”

He called the week-old Italian government’s position on the euro “clear and unanimous.”

Tria, an economics policy professor, was a last-minute choice to replace the coalition’s preferred pick for the post, an economist who has advocated having a backup plan to abandon the euro. Italy’s president refused to approve hiring that economist, citing fears that championing such a plan would further roil the financial markets.