13/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - Stability Pact: Rome to use structural reform clause. Italy is planning to use the structural reform clause in the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) in 2015 and 2016, explained Italian finance minister Pier Carlo Padoàn on Monday 13 April after a meeting in Rome with Euro Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, according to reports by RAI. The clause was spelt out by the European Commission earlier this year in a document on the SGP as a way of taking account of the impact of structural reforms on a country's budget trajectory as long as the reforms are applied and have a positive, verifiable, long-term effect on the budget (see EUROPE 11229). For a country like Italy that does not have an excess deficit, it is permitted to deviate from the medium-term budget target by up to 0.5% of GDP without generating a deficit of above 3% of GDP. (MB)