Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Ticker

Commission aims to 'cool down' budget tension with Italy

Italian and EU officials are attempting to diffuse tension between Rome and Brussels, as Italy's populist government aims to boost spending - risking breaching EU rules. On Tuesday Jean-Claude Juncker met Italy's president of the chamber of deputies, Roberto Fico. A commission spokesperson said "it was a moment to cool down the temperature." Juncker told Fico it was up to Italy to find measures that adhere to agreed budgetary targets.

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Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

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