Italian Pm Calls On Europe To Focus On Growth

The Italian prime minister has called Monday on Europe to focus on growth rather than austerity, Italian news agency, ANSA, said.



Matteo Renzi's comments on his Facebook page came the day after Greece rejected international creditors' bailout terms in a referendum.



"If we remain still, prisoner to rules and bureaucracy, Europe is finished," Renzi said.



"For months, we have been insisting on the need to not just talk about austerity, but also about growth, infrastructure, common policies on migration, innovation, the environment." 



He said that it would not "be easy to reconstruct a new Europe after what has happened in recent years." But, "Italy will do its part," he added.



More than 61 percent of the Greek voters backed the ruling Syriza coalition's call to reject the latest bailout plan proposed by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.



Separately, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics told the local LTV channel Monday: "No country wants to pay the price for mistakes Greece made 10 years before."



He warned of a possible domino effect to other countries. 



Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas said that the result of the referendum in Greece had reduced the possibility for the country to get out of the crisis. - Ankara