In an atmosphere considered "constructive", discussions between Italy, its peers in the Eurogroup, and the European Commission began on Thursday 13 June in Luxembourg, with sights set on avoiding the opening, in early July, of an Excessive Deficit Procedure based on Italian public debt criteria (see EUROPE 12269/1).
Italian Minister Giovanni Tria met with Euro Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and will do the same with Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici on Friday.
It is not yet time to present additional figures or measures that would enable Italy to meet its budgetary commitments for 2019, namely a reduction in public debt and an improvement in the structural deficit (excluding cyclical effects) of 0.6% of national GDP over the period 2019-2020.
"We will demonstrate that we will achieve our objectives", Mr Tria said, convinced that his country will not need to prepare an amending budget to achieve this.
In the Italian Minister's entourage, it was pointed out that the vast majority of the Nineteen do not want a conflict with Italy, particularly because of the risks already weighing on the euro area economy.
In line with the position of the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) of the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 12272/2), Italy's partners expect the Italian authorities to submit additional data explaining their budgetary situation.
"I expect Finance Ministers to show their support for the Commission, as the EFC has done. I am ready to discuss new figures with Mr Tria. My door is open. If it is so, we must enter into it with new facts", Mr Moscovici said, stressing a shared desire to avoid the opening of new infringement proceedings. "We are ready, in case", he warned. For Mr Dombrovskis, whatever additional elements are put forward, "would require substantial correction of Italy's fiscal trajectory".
The Eurogroup, still in progress at the time of going to press, was not expected to adopt a declaration on Italy, unlike what the Ministers had done at the end of 2018 during negotiations on the draft Italian budget for 2019 (see EUROPE 12152/3). The real meeting is scheduled for the Ecofin Council on Tuesday 9 July, the day after a decisive Eurogroup.
The French Minister, Bruno Le Maire, requested that "Italy seize the hand extended by the European Commission to take the appropriate measures". Like his German counterpart Olaf Scholz, he reiterated the importance, for the strength of the euro area, of respecting its budgetary rules.
Eurogroup President Mário Centeno noted the importance for the country's "credibility" based on the Italian government's recent statements that Italy would honour its commitments.
Presenting the IMF's annual report on the euro area in Luxembourg, the Director of the international financial organisation, Christine Lagarde, made indirect reference to Italy, noting the "lack of appetite for fiscal adjustment and for fiscal reforms in countries that need it most, leaves them exposed to shift in market sentiment".
Mini-bonds. When asked about the idea promoted in the Italian Parliament to issue securities ('mini-bonds') as alternatives to the euro, several Ministers spoke out. The Spanish Minister, Nadia Calviño, stood by the statements of ECB President Mario Draghi, according to which it is either a currency competing with the euro, which is illegal, or it is a security that will increase public debt. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with Lucas Tripoteau)