Deadline in dispute over Italian budget expires

In the budget dispute between the EU and Rome, the Italian government's response time is almost over. The European Commission rejected Rome's draft budget irregularly three weeks ago and called for a review. The five-star populist coalition and the right-wing coalition must now resubmit its debt plans in Brussels.

However, Italy should not give way. The Rome government had made it clear in advance that it would not abandon the fundamentals of its budget proposal. Italy is targeting a new debt representing 2.4% of economic output over the next year.

But as the third economy of the euro area is already heavily indebted, the EU is opposed. It sees the populist government project as an unprecedented violation of the EU's stability rules. Rome wants, among other things, to spend this money on campaign commitments such as basic security and pension reform.