The European Commission said
Wednesday that Italy was on the right path but still needs to do
more to put its public finances in order after the government
presented a mini-budget on Tuesday to meet demands for a deficit
adjustment.
"The Italian government's efforts go in the right direction,"
it said, echoing a passage from an interview EC President
Jean-Claude Juncker gave La Repubblica.
"Italy is making a big effort to keep its deficit under
control, but in the medium-long term it needs to decisively
consolidate the public accounts, especially its enormous debt".
Premier Paolo Gentiloni on Tuesday presented a new economic
and financial blueprint, the DEF, as well as a budget adjustment
demanded by the European Union after a cabinet meeting.
Gentiloni stressed that the budget would help boost growth as
well as bringing the deficit for 2017 down to around 2.1%.
The European Commission had told Italy to cut its structural
deficit by an additional 0.2% of GDP by the end of April to
avert infringement procedures.
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