Premier Giuseppe Conte
said Thursday that if the ECOFIN backs the European Commission's
call for an excessive budget infringement procedure over the
2019 budget, "we will ask for a very long timeframe" for its
enactment.
Conte told the House that the government would reply to the
European Commission illustrating "the (budget) plans and
decisions" and "we will explain the effects of the budget on
growth".
He also said "we will accelerate investments and remodulate
the measures" to make sure the budget complies with debt rules.
Conte said the EC saw a deterioration in growth but this
would not happen thanks to pump-priming measures including a
basic income and public investments.
He said the government's reforms were "in line with the
ECOFIN's recommendations".
Meanwhile Economy Minister Giovanni Tria told the Senate,
persistently high bond spread could impact Italian home
mortgages.
Tria said budget moves were still being defined amid a new
budget spat between Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini and European
Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.
"If the increase in the spread were to persist over time the
impact on rates practised by banks on mortgages could prove to
be significant," he said at question time.
Tria said, citing Bank of Italy data, that the rise of the
spread so far "has not influenced in an adverse way mortgage
rates", while the latest data from the Italian banking
Association indicate "an increase in the average rate on new
mortgages in October".
Tria told the Senate that "the design of the measures (in
the budget) is still in a process of definition in order to
guarantee the maximum efficacy in terms of employment and
development".
Tria said that Italy, with its budget, was trying
to "ward off the risk of a third recession that could have
devastating consequences.
Tria said the government was hoping to work "without
prejudice" with the European Commission on the 2019 budget "with
the aim of arriving at a shareable solution" after Brussels
rejected the package for the second time.
He said it was in both Italy's and the EC's interest to tone
down the "dramatisation" of the budget tussle.
Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Salvini, meanwhile, hit
back on Thursday after European Economic Affairs Commissioner
said there could be no negotiations with "carpet sellers" after
the EU executive rejected Italy's budget plan for 2019.
"The Italian people are not a people of carpet sellers or of
beggars," League party leader Salvini said.
"Moscovici continues to insult Italy but his salary is paid
by the Italian people in part. Enough is enough. We've run out
of patience".
Moscovici had suggested that Italy will have to give a lot of
ground to make a solution possible over its budget.
"We can have a agreement on the rules, move closer to the
rules, but there can be no negotiation with carpet sellers,"
Moscovici said in the French parliament.
"If the ball falls on the line in tennis, maybe slightly on
the far side, an indulgent umpire can consider you to have won
the point.
"But if you hit the ball in the stands, the umpire can't give
you the point".
He added that at the moment, with Italy, "the ball is in the
stands and the Commission is the umpire".
Earlier on Thursday Salvini said the government will not
change direction on the budget.
"We don't take steps backwards," Salvini told State
broadcaster RAI.
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