EU to Italia: focus on public spending, labour and innovation. Yes to flexibility on energy
Brussels asks Rome to stick to the public expenditure correction path, increase military spending and promote innovation and collective bargaining
From our correspondent Beda Romano
BRUSSELS - The European Commission today, Wednesday 3 June, presented new recommendations regarding Italy, ranging from combating undeclared work to promoting university education. He also urged the government to remain on course to correct public spending. Finally, he believes that the country continues to be marked by economic imbalance (unlike Greece, which has instead exited the procedure).
On the country recommendations front, the EU executive suggests Italy, among other things, prepare for a structurally higher military expenditure; reduce environmentally harmful subsidies; make better use of the private savings (equal to 11% of GDP in 2025); to promote the commercialisation of university innovations; to modernise further the justice; and to act to keep the Italians who emigrate in the country.
The EU executive also refers to the importance of promoting collective bargaining, among other things to support adequate wages; combating undeclared work; improving government spending; addressing deficits in the health professions in the face of an ageing population; accelerating the electrification of the country, including through a reform of the licensing system; and liberalising the still protected sectors.
Seven years to act on the budget
Together with seven other Member States, Italia benefits from a seven-year budget adjustment instead of a four-year one. In this context, the Commission has been asked to assess the implementation of the reforms and measures to which the country has committed. Overall, Brussels 'considers that all Member States concerned have fulfilled their commitments satisfactorily'. At the same time, it confirmed the openness to budgetary flexibility, which had been announced in recent days.
Within the existing upper limit (1.5 % of gdp) for additional defence expenditure, the EU executive will allow in the period 2026-2028 to allocate 0.3 % of gdp annually to investments for "energy resilience". The upper limit will be 0.6% of gdp over the three-year period. The decision came after some countries, including Italia, asked for budget flexibility, originally to cover the extra energy costs caused by the war in Iran.
