Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: Financial Times, UK

Financial Times, UK
EU in stern warning to Italy over budget deficit
By George Parker in Brussels and Tony Barber in Rome
Published: April 12 2005 17:43 | Last updated: April 12 2005 17:43
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister, was on Tuesday facing a bruising 
confrontation with the European Commission, as its patience with his 
handling of his country's finances snapped.
Mr Berlusconi was warned by the European Commission that it would start 
formal action against Italy before the end of June over the country's rising 
budget deficit.
The challenge could be even more uncomfortable for Mr Berlusconi if the 
Commission concludes as expected that Italy has under-reported the size of 
its deficit in the past.
Joaquin Almunia, the EU monetary affairs commissioner, regards Italy's 
economic situation as the most precarious in the 12-country eurozone.
But attempts by Brussels to rein in Italy's borrowing come as Mr Berlusconi 
eyes income tax cuts of ?12bn ($14.04bn) ahead of a general election due in 
2006.
Mr Almunia, speaking at an EU finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg, said 
he expected the Commission to launch action against Italy under the revised 
stability and growth pact "probably before the end of June".
The move will switch the EU's focus from the long-running budget battles 
with France and Germany both of which claim to be bringing their deficits 
below the pact's 3 per cent ceiling to what many regard as a longer-term 
problem.
"Italy is the country which keeps us awake at night," said one EU official 
on Tuesday. If a Commission report on Italy's "excessive deficit" is 
accepted by member states, the EU would issue recommendations to bring it 
under control.
Earlier this month Mr Almunia published the Commission's spring forecast 
which projected an Italian deficit of 3.6 per cent of gross domestic product 
in 2005 and 4.6 per cent in 2006.
The commissioner does not believe official Italian figures or forecasts; 
Eurostat, the EU statistics office, refused to certify Italian data from 
2003 and 2004 which showed the country at 2.9 per cent and 3.0 per cent 
respectively, and is expected to revise the numbers soon.
Mr Almunia wants to show that the revamped stability pact substantially 
weakened at an EU summit last month can still exert peer pressure on 
countries to run sound fiscal policies.
But Domenico Siniscalco, finance minister, said yesterday it was premature 
to talk of supplementary fiscal measures in the next few months to control 
the deficit, and contended that Italy's real problem was low economic 
growth.
Mr Berlusconi's ability to push through tax cuts has become more limited 
after a disastrous performance in regional elections on April 3-4 in which 
Forza Italia, his party, did much worse than its three coalition allies.
Italy has relied heavily on one-off revenue-raising measures, such as tax 
amnesties, to keep down its deficit since Mr Berlusconi came to power in 
2001. Its problems are compounded by a debt-to-GDP ratio of 106 per cent 
second only to Greece in the eurozone and nearly twice that of France and 
Germany - and an almost stagnant economy.

 EU in stern warning to Italy over budget deficit
--snip--
Unfortunately our Mr Clas does not read English. Indeed he appears to 
have difficulty in understanding most Italians. It's not that he has 
communications difficulties, it's just that he is only able to 
comprehend arguments presented in an Arcore dialect.

 comprehend arguments presented in an Arcore dialect.
Brilliantly summed up.
Kudos.
Andrew


wrote:

Roger tu  hai assolutamente ragione, ma considera che "Mr.Clas" non è
un attivista politico, ma uno che ha un padrone.
la sua concezione della politica è un po "master and servant" dove
Berlusconi è il master e lui è il servant.
saresti così gentile, quando hai tempo, di postare,anche in breve, e
anche  in inglese, se farlo in italiano fosse troppo complicato, cosa
dice la legge britannica sui media.
in particolare sull'eleggibilità dei politici che si trovano in
conflitto d'interessi?
grazie
Giovanni

 April 3-4
San Riccardo 
-- 
Un saluto a volo su Spaccanapoli con gli angeli della luce
100.000 Olmstrom
Radiomustori