Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte discussed the draft Italian Finance Law for 2019 with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday 25 November in the margins of the extraordinary European summit on Brexit (see other news).
"The climate is good, of mutual trust", he said as he left Brussels. Ms Merkel welcomed the parties' willingness to continue the dialogue, ‘trusting’ the European Commission to achieve ‘good results’. Cooperation is what Mr Macron expects from Italy.
The day before, Mr Conte had met the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. According to him, there was no mention of figures such as the increase in the nominal public deficit to 2.4% of GDP. This threshold is a red line for the government's strong men, Mr Salvini and Mr Di Maio, who were supposed to meet on this issue with Mr Conte on Sunday evening. But Reppubblica.it reported discussions on budget cuts of €4 billion. "For five months, we have been revolutionising the country" by reforming it, Mr Conte said.
This week, the Economic and Financial Council of the Council of the EU will discuss the opening of an excessive deficit procedure based on public debt against Rome, as advocated by the European Commission (see EUROPE 12142). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with AN and SP)