Italy’s finance minister, Pier Carlo Padoan, says the extra expenditure on coping with earthquakes and the refugee crisis in Italy will amount of between €6.6 billion and €7 bn in 2017.
The expenditure should justify Italy being allowed to reduce its deficit reduction in 2017, since the Italian government’s position has hardened in recent days. The country’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, has put his political future on the line by making it depend on winning a referendum in...