Following mammoth negotiation sessions between the various parties to the coalition, the Italian government of Giuseppe Conte presented a draft 2019 budget on the evening of Thursday 27 September, anticipating a nominal deficit of 2.4% of GDP, which the European Commission considers a priori incompatible with the structural effort commitments made by Italy under the Stability and Growth Pact.
“It is a budget which […] today appears to lie outside our rules, which are common rules”,...