Brussels dissatisfied with Italy budget response (3)

(ANSA) - Brussels, October 31 - The European Commission is dissatisfied with Italy's letter responding to EC strictures about the draft 2017 budget, EC sources said Monday. Of the five letters that have been received so far, they said, three are more constructive (Portugal, Finland, Belgium) and two less so, from Italy and Cyprus. The deadline for the EC to request changes to the draft budget plan, if it sees serious risks of deviation from structural adjustment targets, falls on Tuesday.
    This has never happened before and is not expected to occur this time either. But negotiations are continuing and although the budget will probably not be rejected that does not mean that it is OK, sources said.
    EC sources also said that the EC has already said that it is possible to invest in anti-seismic measures, with spending excluded from the calculations for the Stability Pact, in a communication in January 2015. The sources said, therefore, that accusations that the EC does not allow anti-seismic spending stem from political populism.
    photo: Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan (L) with European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici