Credit rating agencies, as you all know, have come under severe attack for their role in the crisis.
Last year on this occasion I dwelt on the urgent need to elevate educational attainment in our schools and universities. The drive for reform in this area must proceed and intensify. Physical infrastructure is a crucial factor in competitiveness. In the last twenty years the gap between Italy’s infrastructural endowment and that of the other leading EU countries has more than tripled.