MARIO MONTI, hasta ahora comisario europeo para la competencia, se ha despachado a gusto:

The outgoing EU official said that Italy should understand "that France and Germany, to which the Union owes a great deal, today represents a brake on integration."

"Ten years of experience in Brussels have convinced me that, to be competitive, Europe must be more liberal."

"In simple terms, the Blair-Aznar alignment has shown itself to be more useful than the Chirac-Schroeder one," he said.

He is particularly scathing of France, which he scores for favouring the short-term interests of some big national companies to the detriment of EU economic development in general.

"France has become a problem for itself and for Europe. It cannot handle its successes, and often it doesn't see them, and attributes its setbacks, which are often imaginary, to Europe."

El 'liberal' de Monti debe entenderse a la europea, por supuesto.