A week after the European parliamentary election produced the most eurosceptic parliament since 1979, international experts at Trento Economics Festival which ended in northern Italy on Monday discussed how to revive the troubled continental union.

Speakers at the festival, titled "Ruling classes, growth and common good," agreed that European countries cannot do without the European Union (EU), which however needs a ruling class capable of interpreting the needs of a continent that risks drifting away economically and politically.

According to Paul De Grauwe, a Belgian economist from the London School of Economics, it is necessary to redraw Europe, rethink the role of the European Central Bank (ECB) and achieve political integration as well as real macro-economic coordination within the eurozone.

In his view, at the origin of the financial crisis that hit the eurozone was the absence of the so-called "lender of last resort," which provides liquidity to banks whenever necessary in European countries that do not belong to the eurozone, like Britain and Sweden.

With the birth of the eurozone, governments "were no longer able to guarantee to those holding their debts that they will have the money to pay them" and "depend on the good will of the ECB as they cannot oblige it, even in times of crisis, to provide liquidity," De Grauwe said.

In order not to leave European countries to the mercy of financial markets, "a eurozone government to which the ECB is subordinated" is necessary, he stressed.

Vittorio Colao, CEO of the Vodafone Group, highlighted the need to respond to the ever more compact front of eurosceptics by reducing bureaucracy and reforming policies.

"It is necessary to be practical" and "take seriously the eurosceptic results" throughout Europe, Colao said, noting that while European values are important, the specific characteristics of individual states need to be saved.

"There are underlying questions such as young people and job creation that must be dealt with," Colao added, urging member countries to think about "what concessions" they have to make to participate in Europe.

"If we are not together we are small, whereas united we can offer a vision for future years," he stressed. Endi

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