Italy says can avoid EU sanctions despite rejection of budget
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte says Rome can avoid European Union (EU) sanctions despite the bloc’s recent rejection of his government’s debt-swelling budget plan.
Conte said after talks with European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker on Saturday that he was “confident” Italy could avoid EU sanctions since its 2019 budget would boost economic growth in the euro zone’s third-largest economy and reduce public debt.
The European Commission said earlier this week that Italy’s failure to cut its huge public debt in line with EU rules would precipitate a disciplinary process ending in a sanction of up to 0.2 percent of GDP for Italy.
The 28-member bloc also warned that the European country risked “sleepwalking into instability” and increasing its already massive debt burden by implementing the proposed budget plan.
“I am confident that dialog can avoid an infringement procedure,” Conte told Italian television after a working dinner with Junker in Brussels.
“It was not a conclusive meeting but a meeting which reaffirmed, with mutual respect, the opening of a dialog that we must preserve in everyone’s interests,” he added.
The Italian premier insisted, however, that his government had no intention to reverse course on the 2019 budget plan, which includes reforms that would allow Italians to retire at a younger age and provide a minimum income for the unemployed.
Forecasts by the bloc show that Italy’s deficit will hit 2.9 percent of GDP in 2019 and 3.1 percent in 2020, breaching the EU’s 3.0 percent limit.
Brussels now has to decide whether to allow the commission to initiate the excessive deficit procedure, a lengthy process that could lead to fines.
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