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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 OCTOBER 2018
MASSIMO COSTA
THE risk of Italy's refusal to
change its economic policies
following the rejection of its
Budget by the European Com-
mission, will spill over to the
eurozone and Malta – perhaps
leading to existential questions
about the European project it-
self.
In an unprecedented move,
the EU this week sent back the
Budget proposals submitted
by Italy, the eurozone's third-
largest economy, saying they
violated fiscal laws.
The Budget which proposes
a 2.4% deficit ceiling – below
the 3% maximum allowed by
the EU, but still breaking Italy's
promise to cut its deficit to
curb its stratospheric 130% of
GDP debt level – poses unac-
ceptable risks to the single-cur-
rency area, the European Com-
mission told Italy on Tuesday.
But the Italian populist gov-
ernment, which includes the
centre-right Five Star Move-
ment (M5S) and far-right Lega,
has steadfastly said it would
"not give up" on its plans.
Deputy prime minister and
M5S leader Luigi Di Maio said
on Facebook that if Italy were
to "surrender", it would quickly
go back to "the pro-bank and
pro austerity 'experts'".
"And so we will not give up.
We know that we are
on the right
NEWS
The eurozone will undoubtedly be negatively affected if Italy's
politicians persist in their refusal to budge on Budget changes
demanded by the European Union, economic and political
experts told MaltaToday
Italy's crisis, the EU's
existe
Italy's crisis, the Italy's crisis, the
existe l problem
Ding, ding!
Seconds out: it's
Salvini vs Juncker
