Dopo Rome, Paris also receives a letter from Brussels in which the European Commission asks for information on the 2015 Stability Law. This was confirmed by the French president, François Hollande. Meanwhile, the controversies continue between Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and the number one of the EU Executive Josè Barroso over the Italian decision to publish the letter, but Jyrki katainen pronounce soothing words towards our country. A manifestation of goodwill that is not secondary, considering the role of the Finnish hawk, today outgoing commissioner for economic affairs and from XNUMX November the new EU vice president with veto power over all the commissioners who will deal with the economy.
“We are in dialogue with Italy, but we haven't yet formed an idea of the Stability law – said Katainen –, because we need more information. Everyone wants to avoid the worst-case scenario, nothing is inevitable,” he added, referring to a possible infringement procedure to punish those “significant shifts” in budget targets mentioned in the letter.
“We await further answers from Italy on how significant deviations from the budgetary target can be avoided, according to the Stability Pact – concluded the Finn -. I can't say more and I don't want to speculate on the numbers. Let's wait for more information from Italy and then we'll see”.
Also Paris has forwarded to Brussels a stability law that does not respect the commitments made with Europe. France had ensured that in 2014 it would cut the structural deficit, net of the economic cycle, by 0,8%, and then do the same the following year, but the 2015 budget now provides for a reduction of just 0,2%.
Hollande has already clarified that France will not implement new spending cuts beyond the 21 billion already envisaged, but at the same time he affirmed that there could be other ways to meet the requests relating to the structural deficit. Paris has one week to provide further details on the 2015 draft budget, then the EU executive will have to decide whether or not to accept the law.
The Italian response, however, should arrive today. To the controversy opened yesterday by Barroso, who did not like the publication of the European letter on the Treasury website, Renzi he replied yesterday stating that "the time for secret letters is over, that of transparency and clarity has begun". Today, entering the Justus Lipsius for the EU summit, the Italian Prime Minister increased the dose: “We will publish not only the letter, but all the economic data on how much is spent in these buildings. It's going to be a lot of fun."
