Italian election: EU refuses to punish Italy on major issues in fear of fuelling Right

The has let Italy escape with far more than other countries ahead of the March election as it fears it could cause more people to vote for the eurosceptic parties such as the Five Star Movement and the Northern League.

Brussels is worried any rise in populist parties could jeopardise the stability of the bloc, especially from Italy, a founding member and the third largest economy in the eurozone.

Euroscepticism has grown in recent years in reaction to the migrant crisis and austerity policies imposed by Brussels.

It has meant the two main issues forming candidates’ political campaigns are based on the economy and immigration.

The European Commission has revealed Italy will not face any “procedural consequences” for failing to tackle the country’s high levels of public debt.

At 132 percent of GDP, Italy has the European Union’s worst debt ratio after Greece.

Rome only said how it would attempt to reduce the deficit by 0.1 per cent and not 0.3 per cent of its GDP, which the EU asked for.

The European Commissioner for economic and financial affairs, Pierre Moscovici, said: “What would have happened had we imposed a different strategy?

“The right amount of firmness and flexibility on the basis of objective basis is necessary, and we’ve always worked on an objective basis”.

The bloc has delayed the reform of the EU’s migration system from spring to summer, which Rome has said puts an unfair burden on Italy as it requires migrants to apply for protection in the first EU county they enter.

This Dublin Agreement is likely to be controversial in Italy and negotiations will be tricky.

Immigration has been a key campaigning vote in the election after Italy has absorbed more than 600,000 migrants over the last four years, with more than 180,000 arriving in 2016.

The World Health Organisation has revealed that three Italian cities are the worst in Europe when it comes to air pollution and smog.

In January, the European Commission gave nine member countries, which included Italy, a chance to come up with measures that would reduce air pollution or they would refer them to the European Court of Justice.

This was the first time that governments were given the chance to make last minute arguments to environmental issues.

Lastly, the EU has refrained from fighting Italy over the issue of food labelling despite the Commission normally needing to approve such national schemes.

Rome introduced food labelling giving the origin of rice and durum wheat in pasta without Brussels’ permission.

The Italian election takes place on March 4.