Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has promised savings worth 7 billion ecu

Date: 10/09/1998

from his government's 1999 budget. After years of huge spending cuts and tax increases - including 40 billion ecu in one year in the early Nineties - this is likely to seem a small bill to many of his compatriots. “I believe Italians realise that this is the first time in many years that the budget will not torture them,” Prodi told state radio. His Finance Minister Vincenzo Visco received a savaging in parliament when he revealed that although the hated 'Eurotax' levied to allow Italy to qualify for EMU would be repaid, it would swiftly be replaced by a new tax.