Italy said no negotiation in place with the EU on public debt. “We will respect 3%”

No negotiation is in place with the European Union on Italian public debt. The Italian Government, reiterated the concept after some newspapers these days had described Italy as engaged in negotiations with Brussels for obtaining the possibility of exceeding the 3% threshold. No negotiation, neither secret not public, as repeated from Rome after the ‘no comment’ arrived from Brussels: “Italy will do its part, as our Prime Minister has already said several times, respecting the 3% threshold without increasing the tax burden.” No special dispensation for Italy hence, because “there is no ‘Italian case’ in Europe: there is a problem in the Euro area which Italy will help to tackle.”

Matteo Renzi, from his holiday in Versilia, made another reassuring statement; Europe is not a problem, and the 3% debt-GDP ratio will be respected. The Italian Prime Minister’s entourage said he his calm, confident and engaged in studying the dossiers he will have to face back from his vacation, even though he’s still on holiday. At the end of the month, he will have to focus his attention on the international scene (Iraq, Libya, Ukraine) as well as on the economic issues. After repeating that Europe is not ‘just spread and Maastricht’ now it is time for Italy to show this concept during its Presidency Semester, Renzi told his entourage.