La Italian budget law 2017 risks fail to comply with the requirements of the EU Pact, because it could lead to “a significant deviation from the adjustment towards the medium-term objective”. This is what the European Commission writes in the press release in which it summarizes its position on the maneuvers of the EU countries. Brussels recognizes the same risk for 5 other countries: Belgium, Cyprus, Lithuania, Slovenia, Finland.
In particular, "on Belgium and Italy, which must comply with the debt rule, the EU Commission will shortly issue new specific reports", announced the vice president of the EU Commission Valdis Dombrovskis. Furthermore, in the opinion published today, the EU specifies that "the Commission will present its conclusions of the in-depth reviews as part of its annual Country Reports in the first part of 2017".
The definitive judgment, therefore, is postponed until after the referendum of 4 December. In other words, Brussels chooses not to enter the pre-referendum Italian political debate on a straight leg. For the moment, Brussels does not enter into the merits of the Italian request not to calculate, for the purposes of compliance with European rules, the 0,4% of the GDP of public expenditure expected in 2017 for the migrant emergency (0,2%) and for reconstruction and prevention costs linked to seismic events (0,2%).
However, an opening signal has arrived. The EU commissioner for economic affairs, Pierre Moscovici, acknowledged that - as far as our country is concerned - the distance between the plans presented and the objectives is among the highest in the EU, but also that a large part of the deviation is linked to the "dramatic" situation of the earthquake and the management of migration flows. “We will take it into account,” she commented.
“We are waging a battle in Europe – said the Italian premier, Matteo Renzi, which yesterday he was back to threaten to veto the EU budget –. The flag of Europe is here with us and we keep it by our side, but let Europe do its job, which is to promote growth and not just austerity, invest in the future and not just in bureaucracy. For too long we have wasted time because someone has thought of letting the culture of austerity win and therefore has halved public investments in Italy, with a suicidal philosophical reasoning that has led to the reduction of 20 billion in funding”.
Meanwhile, today the Chamber approved the trust placed by the government on the tax decree linked to the budget law. Out of 525 voters, 359 were in favour, 166 against. The final vote of Deputies on the measure is expected at around 17 pm. The text will then be sent to the Senate for the definitive green light.
