Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Friday vigorously defended the government’s 2019 budget as parliament held an acrimonious debate on the package, which needs to be approved by the end of the year to take effect on Jan. 1.
Reuters reports an amended budget was presented to the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday after the government reached a last-minute deal with the European Commission to avoid a disciplinary procedure against Rome that could have led to fines.
Opposition lawmakers said they had no time to discuss the package, and the sitting was suspended after a deputy from the center-left Democratic Party (PD) hurled the budget documents at a junior minister.
The government is expected to call a confidence vote in the Chamber to approve the budget on Saturday or Sunday, in time to avoid emergency provisional financing kicking in after the end of the year.
The PD on Friday lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Court, saying its democratic rights had been trampled on because there had been no time for parliament to debate or amend the package following the changes agreed with Brussels.
The formerly unknown lawyer is now Italy’s most popular active politician, according to many opinion polls. But he said on Friday he would not seek re-election at the end of the government’s 5-year term of office.
He called the coalition “a perfect amalgam” despite reports of internal tensions, and set out an ambitious agenda of tax cuts, bureaucratic simplification and infrastructure investments.
