The European Commission wrote on Wednesday to the Italian government asking it t...
BRUSSELS - The European Commission wrote on Wednesday to the Italian government asking it to explain a deterioration in the country’s public finances, a move that sets the stage for a possible legal clash with the euroskeptic coalition in Rome.
Applying the rules that Salvini wants to change, the EU executive asked Italy to explain why its huge debt went up last year instead of falling, as required. Salvini’s League is the junior partner in the Italian administration led by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, but after the League won a third of Italian votes in Sunday’s EU poll, the government seems bound to adopt his hardline stance.
Similar letters were sent on Wednesday to France, Belgium and Cyprus. Each country will be assessed individually, with different conclusions on the following steps.Its national debt rose from 131.4% of GDP in 2017 to 132.2% in 2018 and will go up to 133.7% this year and to 135.2% in 2020, according to Commission forecasts.
But new figures released in April showed the country’s structural gap had worsened last year and will continue deteriorating in 2019 as the government pursues free-spending policies which have so far had little impact on growth.
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