I hope that my government can help change Italian mentality.

A lot of the American press at the time was saying 'just watch what happens when Bertelsmann tries to buy EMI, that will be a moment of truth that will show the Commission's true colors.' Well, that deal never happened either.

There was in Italy a hidden demand for a boring government which would try to tell the truth in non-political jargon.

Europe has to avoid old prejudices and new ones. That means north versus south, rich versus poor.

This is certainly not the first case in which a merger approved in one place hasn't gone through in the other. There was a case last year where the merger between two EU companies was approved here and blocked in the U.S.

Not all Greeks are ready to do whatever is necessary to stay in the euro.

If governments let themselves be fully bound by the decisions of their parliaments without protecting their own freedom to act, a breakup of Europe would be a more probable outcome than deeper integration.