The Italian Deputy Prime Minister claimed the European Union had never disputed Italian budgets of previous governments as they served the interests of “strong powers” to the detriment of Italian citizens. To the amusement of the crowd, Matteo Salvini joked Jean-Claude Juncker used to open a bottle “or two, three, four” of sparkling wine when he received budget proposals from Italy‘s left-leaning governments in the past.
He said: “We approved our budget plan on December 30th.
“How did the previous governments approve theirs earlier than us?
“Simply because in Brussels they were happy.
“They were budgets so much in favour of the strong powers and against Italian people that Brussels exulted.
“Have you ever seen the European Union dispute budgets of previous Italian Governments?
“No. When Monti submitted his budget plan Juncker opened a bottle of sparkling wine.
“Or two, three, four.”
Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio, co-Deputy Prime Minister, re-drafted Rome’s budget and cut the deficit for 2019 to 2.04 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) after Brussels rejected its original target of 2.4 percent, saying it broke EU fiscal rules.
2018’s deficit was seen at 1.9 percent. The budget, presented to the Italian parliament in October, overcame its final hurdle on December 29th when the government comfortably won a vote of confidence on the bill by 327 to 228.
The confidence motion marked the end of an acrimonious debate in which opposition ministers complained that the last-minute deal with the bloc meant they had no time to properly assess or debate the amended package of measures.
A few hundred supporters of the centre-left Democratic Party protested outside parliament.
The budget’s flagship policies, pushed through by the coalition of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the right-wing League, are a new income support scheme known as the “citizens’ wage” and a reduction in the retirement age.
Other measures include tax cuts for the self-employed, higher taxes on banks, insurers and gambling companies, and a partial amnesty that allows low-earners to settle tax disputes with the authorities by paying a limited sum.