If Italy really thinks of getting it right, the EU will let an Italian bank or two fail to send a message.
This stuff is just PR for the masses.
The Italian government has no intention of getting it right.
As long as Italy refuses to live within its means, the EU has Italy by its short hairs.
I agree, but part of the reason they got to this point in the first place is the EU. The EU inflated costs in Italy, and there was no commensurate increase in personal income or employment numbers to absorb those increased costs. If you travelled to Spain, for example, before the EU, everything there was cheaper. Food, housing, pretty much everything. It all went up substantially after the EU went into effect. So they had to ramp up social welfare, and have been dependent on EU money ever since.
I'm not saying the Italian government didn't make a lot of mistakes before they joined the EU - but things changed markedly afterwards.