Friday

29th Mar 2024

Ticker

Italy splurges on welfare in new budget

The Italian government on Monday approved a new budget raising welfare spending in the teeth of EU complaints. The extra funds for pensions, tax breaks, and a basic income is to push the Italian deficit-to-GDP ratio to 2.4 percent. That is below the EU's three percent limit, but EU officials believe the real costs will be higher, as the European Commission prepares to assess the plan.

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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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