Maria Cannata, head of funding at the Italian treasury,
rushes into her beautiful office in the public debt mansion in
Rome, straight from another meeting. The offices of Italy's public
debt team are colossal - long, vast halls on floor after floor,
lined with offices almost as beautiful as Cannata's. The size and
grandeur of the building reflects the size and grandeur of Italy's
public debt - 110% of GDP at the last count.
Cannata says it has been a busy few weeks but that it is always
busy at the Italian treasury. Ever since Mario Draghi was made
director-general of the treasury just over a decade ago and tried
to slash Italy's double-digit deficit to get the country into the
single currency, the treasury has not seen a dull moment. As one
analyst says: "The Italian treasury is one of the most efficient in
Europe. It is obliged to be so, because it has had such...
