Italy cannot keep implementing the austerity policy, it wants to discuss its budget with Brussels "without prejudices," Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Tuesday ahead of the EU summit.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2018) Italy cannot keep implementing the austerity policy, it wants to discuss its budget with Brussels "without prejudices," Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Tuesday ahead of the EU summit.
On Monday, Italy submitted its draft budget to the European Union. However, the target deficit of 2.4 percent of GDP for 2019 is an increase on the 0.8 percent agreed by the previous administration.
"Italy's a founding EU member and a net contributor. On the strength of this position, we go to Brussels with a budget that we are proud of and that we want to discuss without prejudices ... Austerity is a path that can no longer be taken," Conte told the Italian Senate, as quoted by the ANSA news agency.
The prime minister stressed that it was of major importance to Italy to catch up to the rest of the European Union in terms of growth.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker reportedly said Tuesday that other EU states would accuse Brussels of being too lenient toward Italy if the bloc accepted the country's draft budget.
At the same time, Juncker stressed that the European Union could not survive Italy's exit.
"Europe needs Italy and Italy needs Europe," the European Commission president said, as quoted by ANSA.
Italy's proposed budget deficit sits well under the EU-mandated 3 percent of GDP, however, another EU rule stipulates that a member should keep its debt under 60 percent of the GDP, or, if above, to work toward decreasing it. As of 2017, Italy's debt-to-GDP ration stood at 131.8 percent, the highest in Europe after Greece.
