In a letter addressed to Giovanni Tria, the Italian Minister of Economy, dated Wednesday 29 May, the European Commission is asking Rome to explain its budgetary trajectory as it plans to prepare a new debt report under Article 126(3) TFEU.
The institution considers that Italy did not make sufficient progress in meeting the debt criterion last year and therefore did not respect its budgetary commitments for 2018 under the Stability and Growth Pact. For this reason, it plans to produce a new report under Article 126(3) TFEU, following the one published last November (see EUROPE 12142/1).
Although it paved the way for the opening of an excessive deficit procedure based on the debt criterion, an agreement was reached between Rome and the Commission in December not to take this step (see EUROPE 12163/1).
In the letter, the institution requests that Rome provide it, by 31 May, with information on factors it considers relevant to explain the budgetary deviation.
A debt report could therefore be published on Wednesday 5 June, when the Commission presents its country-specific recommendations as part of the budgetary process for the 'European Semester'. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)