[ad_1]
The Italian government is already in the limelight with investors waiting for details of its spending plans for 2019. The government announced last Thursday that it was going to implement the key populist measures promised in the run-up to elections , measures that should bring the deficit of the next fiscal year to 2.4% of GDP, three times more than the previous government had planned.
The deficit provoked a negative reaction from the market, but also angry comments from the European institutions.
Several European finance ministers and politicians told Willem Marx of CNBC in Luxembourg that the additional spending in Italy was causing some concern, but they are waiting for the final budget document to be published.
Woepke Hoekstra, Dutch Finance Minister, said that "what we have seen so far is not particularly reassuring", while Pierre Moscovici, of the European Commission, told Willem Marx of CNBC that the 2.4% deficit corresponded to "a very large deviation from what had been committed before."
"I think the Italian government must tell the truth to the Italians, namely that there is more public spending that can make you more popular for a while, but who will eventually pay?" Moscovici said Monday.
One of the Italian Deputy Prime Ministers, Luigi di Maio, head of the M5S (Five-Star Anti-Settlement Movement), accused the EU of "creating terrorism in the markets" by deliberately upsetting the markets with his comments.
Italy has until the 15the October to complete its 2019 budget plan and submit it to the European Commission for analysis.
