In the event that updated government data should emerge tomorrow that there might be a risk of exceeding the 3% ceiling in Italy's deficit/GDP ratio for 2013, the Commission would have nothing left but to reopen the excessive deficit procedure, once the accounts for the year. “There is a difference between a deficit of 3% or 3,1% of GDP, in the latter case, measures are needed to meet the commitments”. This is the position of the European Commission.
But the Minister of Economy, Fabrizio Saccomanni, reassures the EU by stating that, if Italy exceeds the maximum limit, it would already be ready to intervene within the year to avoid the overrun and therefore the country's return to a situation of excessive deficit according to Eurozone standards. This was reported today in Brussels by sources close to the Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn.
However, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Maurizio Lupi, recalled that "by tomorrow the European Commission should send the Member States indications for deducting from the debt the expenses incurred for the construction of the major Community transport corridors (TEN)", which include the Tav, the Rotterdam-Genoa corridor, the one connecting the Baltic Sea with the Adriatic and the one between Helsinki and Valletta.
In response to the Italian controversies against Rehn, the same sources underlined that the Commissioner, in his action for the consolidation of public budgets, does not act on his own initiative, but "applies the recommendations approved by the EU Council, and based on the proposals elaborated by dozens of economists, including several Italians".
