(supersedes previous)The Italian
government is willing to listen to EU assessments of its budget
but the bill will stay the way it is, Premier Matteo Renzi said
Friday.
"The budget bill won't change," he told private RTL 102.5
FM radio.
"If the EU has observations we'll listen, but this budget
has the lowest deficit in the past 10 years. We're making
efforts and we want to send a message to taxpayers not to
technocracies in Brussels".
The 2017 budget allocates an extra two billion euros to the
national health service, a measure that is neither left- nor
right-wing, the premier said.
"The budget is about concrete issues, and that will not
change," he said.
The Italian premier also denied his administration is
giving amnesties to tax dodgers.
"Those who got fined must pay," he said.
"To those who accuse the government of giving amnesties or
aiding tax evaders, I say that in 2015 we obtained the best
result of the past 60 years: we recovered over 14 billion euros
thanks to the fight against tax evasion. Such charges have
absolutely no connection with reality".
Renzi added the government is scrapping tax collection
agency Equitalia, which must no longer act as "a killer" and in
a "punitive" manner but rather as an advisor to taxpayers.
The premier also commented on yesterday's court decision
nixing an appeal on the wording of the yes/no question on a
December 4 referendum on his constitutional reform law, which
reform opponents said was phrased in a misleading way.
"The referendum question has been officially approved,
because the illustrious professors on the 'No' committee
appealed to the Lazio regional administrative court (TAR) and
they lost," Renzi said.
"Let us now enter into the merit (of the reform) - this
referendum is not about me, nor about the government".
The Italian premier initially staked his political future
on the outcome of the referendum, but has since backed down from
that stance.
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