Speaking at the EU Brexit summit in Brussels, the European Parliament President claimed Italy‘s budget is “bad” in substance. Mr Tajani warned the European “judgement” on the eurosceptic Italian Government would change if only Italian leaders were prepared to change the budget plan.
He said: “We’ll see if Italy wants to change the budget. It is a matter of substance.
“Changing manners is good, but the content is more important. It is not a good budget. If they change it, the judgment of Europe will change.
“The problem is trusting a government that makes a very serious mistake. If it does not fix it, Italians will pay the price.”
Mr Tajani added Italy was “isolated” and not in a position to “threaten” the European Commission over confirmed sanctions imposed by the European institution.
He warned Italian citizens will ultimately pay the price for their Government’s “mistakes”.
He said: “Italy seems to me isolated.
“Italy must not threaten. It seems that the government has understood the mistakes, but we will see if it will change.
“If it doesn’t, Italians will suffer. We’ll see. I do not think there’s a desire to change, but we’ll see.”
Also speaking at the EU summit, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte claimed his Government has “revolutionised” the country in the last five months – arguing it will continue to do so in the future.
He said: “Today we talk about Brexit. I talk to everyone. Yesterday there was a serene atmosphere of dialogue. In five months we have revolutionised the country and we will continue to do so.”
On Wednesday, the European Commission took the first step towards disciplining Italy over its expansionary 2019 budget as Rome refused to change it.
If Italy keeps disregarding the EU’s warnings, it will receive a fine.
The Commission said the Italian draft increased the 2019 structural deficit, which excludes one-offs and business cycle swings, by one percent of gross domestic product (GDP) rather than cut it by 0.6 percent as required by EU laws.
The commission added the country would also not be able to cut down its debt in “a particularly serious case of non-compliance” with the rules if it doesn’t change its manoeuvre.