EC says response on flexibility for Italy in spring

(ANSA) - Brussels, February 1 - A European Commission spokesperson on Friday said that the EU executive will decide whether it has granted Italy's request to have flexibility in the application of budget regulations for its spending on asylum seekers in "spring". The spokesperson added that the valuation will be made "on a case-per-case basis, ex post, on the basis of the expenditure undertaken". On Friday Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said after a bilateral meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he hoped Brussels would give a response to Italy on the budget flexibility request this week.
   European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said that the EU executive stated in December that member States' contributions to a package of three billion euros in aid for Turkey in exchange for cooperation over the refugee crisis are excluded from deficit calculations. Italy has been accused of holding up the aid package. Premier Matteo Renzi had said the money must be outside the parameters of the Growth and Stability Pact. "The Commission had already clarified in December that the national contributions to the three-billion-euro fund for Turkey are not considered in the deficit calculations for the Stability and Growth Pact," Schinas said.