Time of EU diktats is over, says Renzi (2)

(ANSA) - Alessandria, November 8 - Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday that the time when Italy took orders from the European Union are over. "Help me to express the idea of a strong Italy, which does not go to Europe to be told what it has to to, but takes its ideas and values to Europe," Renzi told a meeting of mayors from the northern province of Alessandria. "Let's stop saying 'Europe asks for it' and let's start saying what we want: the time of diktats is over".
    Renzi's administration is also engaged in a battle of wills with the European Union over its 2017 draft budget, which features a higher than previously agreed deficit target due to Italy's spending on its earthquake and asylum-seeker emergencies.
    European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday said the Italian government is trying to raise the deficit in ways that are unjustified and warned it to stop attacking the EU executive.