Italy's maneuver is not promoted with flying colors by Brussels, but it does not even result in a failure.
The first judgment of the European Commission has in fact judged the financial measures of the Meloni government "not fully in line" with the EU recommendations and Rome is therefore invited to be ready for any corrective measures. But, as EU Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni explained, "it is not a rejection but an invitation to budgetary prudence and to make the best use of common European resources". This, added Gentiloni, is "a useful result on which the collaboration between the Italian authorities and the European Commission will continue".
«We accept the Commission's opinion. Everything as expected: despite the legacy of the negative impact of energy and super bonuses, we are moving forward with healthy realism", declares the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti.
In the same EU package for the European Semester only seven Eurozone countries were promoted without reservations. Among them Spain and Greece.
Four nations failed: Belgium, Finland, France and Croatia, which presented results "not in line" with the recommendations.
In addition to Italy, four other countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, obtained a "median" rating.
Apart from the call for fiscal prudence for a country with high debt and public deficit, there are essentially two areas on which the community executive "wands" the trend of spending expected by Italy for next year. One concerns the EU invitation to limit growth in 2024 to 1.3%.
Secondly, the Commission notes that the savings from the gradual elimination of energy support measures will not be entirely used to reduce the deficit, thus risking "not being fully in line with the Council's recommendation".
(Unioneonline/lf)
