Don't fear attack on markets - Di Maio

(ANSA) - Rome, August 13 - Deputy Premier and Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio has said he does not expect the new Italian government to come under attack from speculators on the financial markets. At the weekend Cabinet Secretary Giancarlo Giorgetti said that "a speculative attack by the markets on Italy could be expected at the end of August". "I don't see the concrete risk of this government being attacked," Di Maio said in an interview published in Monday's Corriere della Sera.
    "It is more of a hope of the opposition... If some people want to use the markets against the government, they should know that we cannot be blackmailed". Some commentators have linked the recent rise on Italy's bond spread, and therefore its borrowing costs, to investor concerns about how the 5-Star Movement (M5S)-League government will manage Italy's big public dead, as it prepares its first budget law.
    M5S leader Di Maio said in Monday's interview that "we will respect budget balances" while adding that "the EU should let us carry out our reforms".