Brussels, 20/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - “Mr Almunia's intentions have been clearly established”, his spokesperson told the press on Friday, when asked about the words of the President of the Italian Council, Silvio Berlusconi, who had earlier that day “categorically ruled out EU infringement proceedings at this time”. Mr Berlusconi delivered his interpretation of the rules of the Stability Pact to the agency Ansa, stating (our translation throughout): “It is not possible (…). Infringement proceedings can only be launched once an excessive deficit above 3.5% of GDP has been recorded”. These words may have been seen as the sign of potential differences in interpretation between the Commission and various Member States on the new rules of the Pact. Mr Almunia “intends to report back to the College of the state of Italian and Portuguese public finances in the not too distant future”, the Commissioner's spokesperson added, declining to give any hints as to which way the report might lean. There is plenty of evidence, however, to suggest that Mr Almunia will propose to launch excessive deficit proceedings against Italy on 7 June and against Portugal possibly on the same date (EUROPE 8949). These two cases are the first test of the modified version of the Pact, the application of which offers increased margin for interpretation of the economic situation. Mr Almunia, who has always contended that the SGP has not been weakened by its revision, will in any case report on the basis of article 104§3, under which the initial report of the Commission must reflect the medium-term evolution of both the economic and the budgetary positions of the country in question. If a report is drawn up for a country with a deficit above 3% and when there is a risk of worsening, the analysis of the existence of an excessive deficit will be done on a case by case basis, the spokesperson confirmed. “I have not been informed of this kind of threat”, said Mr Berlusconi, referring to the launch of excessive deficit proceedings. He stressed that “the words of the economy minister Domenico Siniscalco at the last Ecofin meeting went down well”. In Italy, budgetary figures for 2004 have not yet been approved by Eurostat and the Italian authorities' forecasts for 2005 will “very probably” be reviewed upwards to end up exceeding 3%, Mr Siniscalco acknowledged on Tuesday.