Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that his government remains set on avoiding EU disciplinary actions.
The nation is home to the third largest economy in the Eurozone, but is also struggling with a huge amount of rising debt, second to that of Greece.
The Italian Prime Minister, and leader of the right-wing populist League and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement coalition, said on Wednesday that the government intends on following the European Union’s fiscal rules and dodge any disciplinary actions over its debt.
“We are determined to avoid an EU infringement procedure and we are convinced about our economic policies,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said to the Chamber of Deputies, according to Reuters.
“Italy intends to respect EU rules,” the Prime Minister added, whilst also emphasising that the rules themselves must be revised in order to deliver a better “balance between stability and growth and (between) the reduction of risks and the sharing of risks.”
Last year, Rome experienced an unprecedented conflict with the European Union concerning its budget as it breached rules on government borrowing.
The nation also slipped into its third recession in a decade at the start of the year, as GDP figures revealed that the economy had decreased by 0.2% in the last three months of 2018. This followed a 0.1% fall from the third quarter, with two successive quarters of decline considered a “technical” recession by analysts.
The short recession was ended as the economy later grew by 0.2% compared with the previous quarter, but doubts prevail as to how long this will last.
Recent European Union Election results indicate a strong support across the nation for Matteo Salvini’s party and half of Conte’s coalition government. Salvini’s populist League outright won the 2019 elections in Italy, obtaining 34.3% of the vote.
