The European Commission said
Wednesday that it was giving the green light to Italy's budget
plan for 2020 even though it risks "non-compliance with the
Stability and Growth Pact in 2020".
It said the same for Belgium, Spain, France, Portugal,
Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.
"The implementation of the Plans of these Member States might
result in a significant deviation from the adjustment paths
towards the respective medium-term budgetary objective," the
Commission said.
"In the cases of Belgium, Spain, France and Italy,
non-compliance with the debt reduction benchmark is also
projected".
European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis
expressed concern about the high debt of Italy and the other EU
States and called on them to take action.
"Member States with very high levels of debt - such as
Belgium, France, Italy and Spain - should take advantage of the
lower interest expenditure to reduce their debt," Dombrovskis
said.
"It should be their priority.
"We expect them not to respect the debt rule.
"They have not sufficiently used the favourable economic
conditions to put their public finances in order.
"In 2020 they plan for either no significant adjustment or an
expansion.
"This is worrying because high debts limit the ability to
respond to economic shocks and market pressures".
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