Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, announced on Sunday 2 June his willingness to continue the dialogue with the Italian authorities on the budgetary path, while maintaining that the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact must be respected.
“Europe is a co-ownership, there are rules that everyone observes and you can't have a single person sitting above it [...]. But for the moment, my watchword is ‘dialogue’, ’dialogue’, ’dialogue’, ’dialogue’”, Mr Moscovici told France Inter.
These statements were part of the current debate on the possible preparation and publication by the Commission of a report on Italian public debt under Article 126.3 of the TFEU on Wednesday 5 June.
On 29 May last year, the Commission asked Rome for an explanation, considering that insufficient progress had been made in meeting the debt criterion last year (see EUROPE 12266/18).
Giovanni Tria, the Italian Minister of Economy, assured the European institution in a letter dated 31 May that a “comprehensive plan of spending review and revenue enhancement” would be launched.
On Monday 3 June, the Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, called on the two parties in the governing coalition, the Lega and the Five Star Movement, to put an end to the quarrels and provocations that undermine the government's action. According to him, European rules must be respected until they are changed. He considered it essential to avoid launching an infringement procedure against Italy for budgetary reasons.
If a new debt report is published, it could lead to the opening of an excessive deficit procedure based on debt criteria. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)