15:19

The developments in Italy today have brought smiles to the faces of Greek officials across the Ionian sea.

Italian prime minister Conte’s pledge not to quit the eurozone was a reminder of the Greek crisis three years earlier.

Market turmoil in Italy has hit Greek bank shares hard in recent weeks. The governor of the Bank of Greece, Yiannis Stournaras, blamed the dramatic drop in the share prices of Greek lenders to events in the neighbouring nation.

Even worse for a country that has pinned its hopes on returning to international borrowing markets after exiting its third and final bailout programme in August, Greek bond yields have followed the trajectory of Italy bonds.

This has highlighted Athens’ continued, and acute, vulnerability to what Stournaras described as “exogenous factors ... in Greece’s neighbouring countries in particular.”

A senior Greek finance ministry official said: