The EU Commission has rejected Italy’s budget plans for the coming year in a historic one-off process.

The government in Italy’s budget plans are in no way compatible with European stability rules, according to the Commission.

“Brussels is attacking  people” – this is how Deputy Prime Minister Salvini sees the Commission’s decision. The Italian authorities now have three weeks to revise the budget.

The EU Commission officially rejects the 2019 budget presented by Italy. Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Tuesday in Strasbourg that there was no alternative to this measure. An erosion of trust would damage all states and the EU. The Italian authorities now have three weeks to revise their budget, Italy is in breach of commitments already made. Dombrovskis pointed out that “at first glance, there might be the temptation to feel like you’re about to free yourself from the shackles and top up the mountain of debt, but at some point the blame will be too big.” Ultimately, then you have no more freedom at all. Therefore, the Commission has agreed to limit the debt. Second highest debt amount In 2017, Italy had the second highest debt mountain in the EU, with 131.2% of GDP. For every Italian, 37,000 euros of debt came. All in The same amount was raised for debt service as for the education sector. “Experience shows time and again that higher household debt does not promote sustainable growth,” said Dombrovskis.

EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said he regretted, like the College, that this decision had been taken. But “nobody will surprise that”. Prime Minister Conte ready for spending cuts and The Italian government is ready to “cut back on budget expenditures” in budget draft 2019 “if necessary”.

 Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in an interview with the US news agency Bloomberg on Tuesday before the official confirmation came from the Commission. The deficit threshold of 2.4 percent of gross domestic product quoted in the budget is a ceiling. If necessary, the deficit could also be lower with spending cuts, Conte assured. However, substantial changes in the draft budget will not be made by Italy.

The government in Rome, which has been in office since June and is a member of the populist five-star movement and the xenophobic Lega, has promised to end its austerity policies during the election campaign and plans to increase spending significantly.