Rome and Brussels have ended their long-running feud over Italy’s 2019 budget, striking a deal on spending plans that had rattled investors and stoked tensions between the country’s populist government and the rest of the EU.
Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU commission vice-president responsible for the euro, said the agreement that had been reached would lead to a budget deficit next year of 2.04 per cent of gross domestic product, compared with 2.4 per cent in Rome’s original plans.
He said the European Commission’s hope is that the budget will be “the basis for balanced budgetary and economic policies in Italy”. The country “urgently needs to restore confidence in its economy to ease financial conditions and support investment,” he said.
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