ZCZC
BCN-27
ITALY-ECONOMY-EU-BUDGET
‘Stubborn’ Salvini challenges Brussels over Italy budget
ROME, June 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini
vowed Saturday not to yield in a dispute with Brussels over the country’s
budget as Rome scrambles to avoid EU punishment for failing to reduce its
heavy public debt load.
The EU infuriated Rome this week by warning over its soaring debt,
rekindling a process that could eventually see Italy hit with sanctions for
breaking spending promises to the EU.
“Next week I will tell Brussels ‘let us do what Italians request: fewer
taxes and more jobs’,” Salvini said during a political rally.
“And if they say ‘no’, we’ll see who is more stubborn,” he added.
The country’s public debt stands at 132.2 percent of GDP in 2018.
This is well above the 60 percent threshold set by European rules and next
week the European Commission is expected to recommend opening an “excessive
deficit procedure” as punishment.
Italy’s populist coalition — Salvini’s far-right League and the anti-
establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) — told the commission late Friday it
will review both the country’s tax system and public spending.
“The government is setting up a comprehensive program to review the current
spending” ahead of the budget law for 2020, Finance Minister Giovanni Tria
said in a reply to Brussel’s request for an explanation over Italy’s
finances.
The government will also review Italy’s revenue, including taxes, Tria
said.
The opening of the EU procedure, which needs to be validated by EU finance
ministers, could result in financial sanctions of up to 0.2 percent of
Italian GDP, equivalent to three billion euros.
BSS/AFP/SR/1710 HRS