Italy has admitted defeat and agreed to change its “beautiful” budget plan to avoid the opening of a EU disciplinary procedure against Rome.
On Wednesday (12 December) Giuseppe Conte and Italy’s Finance Minister Giovanni Tria met the President of the Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, accompanied by Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici and Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis.
In the one and a half hour meeting at the Berlaymont, the Italian delegation presented the Commission a new set of proposals that amend the 2019 budget law currently under discussion at the Italian Parliament.
The main offer that Italy’s government is putting on the table provided keeps to a budget deficit of 2.04%, confirming that Rome has negotiated on targets and budget balances as an Italian government spokesperson told EURACTIV.
“We made a serious and reasonable offer,” Conte said to the press after the meeting, adding that negotiations will continue in the coming weeks.
The Commission acknowledged the “good progress” made by Italy on the budget plan and will now evaluate the proposal in the coming days, an EU spokesperson said after the meeting.
Commission experts need time to go through the proposal because it was sent to the EU executive only a few hours before Conte and Tria landed in Brussels. [...]
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