Ecofin, the EU economic and financial committee, which includes representatives of the ministries of the Treasury, rejected the Italian maneuver, fully endorsing the considerations already expressed by the Commission. Ecofin thus communicated the decision in a 5-page document.
However, there is also talk of further elements that may emerge from the ongoing dialogue between the Commission and the Italian authorities. The president of the Italian council Giuseppe Conte, in fact, said that in the margins of the G20 meetings in Buenos Aires there could be some news. In fact, a two-way meeting is scheduled with the President of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Junker.
The Eurogroup will meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the Italian case and in the end will have to give a definitive opinion on the budget law. Also at the level of the other European governments there is hope for an agreement, in a reasonable solution to avoid the infringement procedure for excessive deficit. The 2,4 percent proposed by Italy must be raised to at least 2 percent.
Meanwhile, the steps in the process that could lead to the infringement procedure follow a slow and very scrupulous line. After the opinion of Ecofin, the Commission can already decide to start the procedure. Now it is up to see if, in the absence of a shared EU-Italy solution, the procedure can be opened before Christmas or postponed to January 22, 2019 with a ministerial decision.