Standoff on Italian budget might stall eurozone reform

On Monday, finance ministers from the 19 countries that use the euro will gather for an “extraordinary” session in Brussels to try to iron out possible deals they can agree on at next month’s official Eurogroup meeting. But four eurozone diplomats directly involved in the negotiations told POLITICO that at their meeting on December 3, Eurogroup finance ministers are likely to decide to postpone most reforms.

However POLITICO reports that Italy’s challenge to the EU’s fiscal rules is set to derail the eurozone’s efforts to introduce widespread economic safeguards for the single currency bloc next month.