If my experience is anything to go by, the odds are against the reforms if a government has not the vision nor the strength to confront the requests of special interest groups or categories of the society. I saw the corporations and the special interests at work this year to resist reforms. They prefer in the end to pay more taxes rather than accept reforms that opens up markets, because this threatens entrenched positions. Organized interest are an across the board brake on reforms. Sometimes their resistance is camouflaged by using old ideological cultures, that are less and less relevant for today’s challenges.

Let’s not be mistaken. Vested, corporative interests are a feature throughout the EU, not just Italy, and one that has become more powerful in recent years. After the successful launch 20 years ago, the Single Market project has lost pace and support. This is why over the past year I push the game for speeding up the completion of the Single Market. On this I agree with the prime minister Cameron, as I agree that prosperity and growth have to be priority number one for Europe. I believe that we will succeed in making Europe more innovative more suited to challenge of globalization if we tackled this fight together. And I am confident that if there is to be a referendum one day the UK citizens will decide to stay in the European Union and contribute to shape its future. I think that the European Union does not need unwilling Europeans. We desperately need willing Europeans. And I think that there is an advantage in envisaging like prime minister Cameron does, I think that there is an advantage in the idea of the eventually putting to the people the real question in a referendum, not marginal question like “would you like to keep membership of the EU but accept these or that tiny change in a treaty”, of course the answer is not as we have seen in many countries. But if you ask them the fundamental question “would you prefer UK citizens that the UK remains members of the European Union of that we leave the European Union”. I don’t know what the UK citizens will say but I feel pretty confident all the costs and benefits of this decision will come up, will become explicit and I think this will facilitate the decision in the interest of the Europeans.