Italian Prime Minister Conte says that Italy will lower deficit next year and is not seeking favours from EU
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Italy will lower its structural deficit next year and is not seeking favors from the European Union, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has written in a letter to EU leaders as he seeks to head off sanctions over state finances.
The European Union Commission has threatened to impose disciplinary procedures on Italy over the management of its huge public debt, and is urging Rome to adopt new measures to improve its public finances this year and next.
“We intend to maintain constructive dialogue with the EU and I am clearly representing this determination at the European summits and with my counterparts”. The European Commission has said an infringement procedure against Italy would be justified for failing to respect the debt rule and told the government to reply to it this week giving the reasons why this may not be the case. But Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who is on a high after his League party’s triumph at last month’s European elections, is pressing hard for tax cuts to give a “positive fiscal shock” to the sluggish Italian economy.
“The upcoming European summits will have to be up to the task of what is at stake in the coming years,” Conte told the House.
“Solutions cannot be put off and they must develop within a new strategy, which no longer sees growth as being in contrast with stability or solidarity in contrast with responsibility”.
The premier said Italy wants to respect the EU budget rules while, at the same time, leading a debate about “how to upgrade these rules so that the Union is equipped to tackle global, systemic financial crises and guarantee a real balance between stability and growth”.
Conte added that Italy wants to nominate a figure with a senior economic portfolio in the new European Commission.
