Italy wants France and Spain to support its campaign to change the EU’s fiscal rules and focus them more on growth in the face of a regional and global economic slowdown, Economy Minister Giovanni Tria said in an interview.

Two US private equity funds have quit talks to buy a mountain of bad loans from ailing Italian lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena, dealing a blow to plans to secure a state bailout for the bank.

Try as he might, Matteo Renzi just can’t push Italy’s economy into the eurozone’s premier league.