Communication on the Spring 2019 round of fiscal surveillance for Italy

Summary:

Communication presented on 3 July 2019 by the European Commission as a follow-up to its report of 5 June which concluded that a debt-based excessive deficit procedure (EDP) was warranted for Italy.

Further information:

On 5 June 2019, the Commission assessed, in its report under Article 126(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, that Italy did not satisfy the debt criterion of the Treaty in 2018, and concluded that a debt-based excessive deficit procedure (EDP) was warranted for Italy. The report was presented as part of the 2019 European Semester Spring Package.

On 2 July, the Italian authorities informed the European Union of a number of additional measures aimed at addressing the concerns put forward by the Commission. Overall, the Commission is of the view that this package is material enough not to propose the opening of an EDP for Italy’s lack of compliance with the debt criterion in 2018 at this stage.

The Commission will keep under surveillance the effective implementation of this package. It will monitor closely the execution of the 2019 budget and will assess the compliance of the 2020 draft budgetary plan with the Stability and Growth Pact, within the context of the European Semester.

• Primary Source

Official

EUR-Lex: SWD(2019)430: Commission Staff Working Document accompanying COM(2019)351 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2019:430:FIN

European Commission: Press Release, 03/07/2019: Commission concludes that an Excessive Deficit Procedure is no longer warranted for Italy at this stage http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-3569_en.htm

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