Italy's Populists Stick To Budget Despite EU Rejection

The two leaders of Italy's governing populist coalition on Tuesday vowed to stick to their budget despite the European Commission rejecting it for increasing the deficit.

Rome, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Oct, 2018 ) :The two leaders of Italy's governing populist coalition on Tuesday vowed to stick to their budget despite the European Commission rejecting it for increasing the deficit.

"This doesn't change anything, let the speculators be reassured, we're not going back," far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said in Bucharest.

"They're not attacking a government but a people. These are things that will anger Italians even more and then people complain that the popularity of the European Union is at its lowest," the League leader told journalists.

The head of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement Luigi Di Maio posted on Facebook after Brussels' budget rejection that the government would continue to negotiate "with respect".

"This is the first Italian budget that the EU doesn't like. No surprise: This is the first Italian budget written in Rome and not in Brussels!" Deputy Prime Minister Di Maio wrote on Facebook.

"We will continue to tell the European Commission what we want to do, with respect. But there must equally be respect for the Italian people and the government that represents them today," he wrote.

The European Union's executive arm earlier Tuesday rejected Italy's proposed 2019 budget and called for a new plan.

Italy's government said it would stick to a deficit of 2.4 percent of annual economic output next year, which would be triple the amount forecast by the previous government and approach the EU limit of 3.0 percent.

The proposed budget would also aggravate Italy's already huge debt mountain, at some 130 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), way above the EU's 60-percent ceiling and second only to Greece's in Europe.

Italy now has three weeks to revise its budget, under EU rules.