It has been said that we owe Ciampi more than just his contribution to the economy: we owe him ‘a great and enduring belief in the capabilities of Italians’.
32 During the inception of the euro, in May 1998 Ciampi told the Chamber of Deputies that ‘Italy has given Europe what the European Union most needs: proof of how much a country and a people can do when they are given a great purpose and put all their best efforts into achieving it’.