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European Commissioner signals soft line on Italy budget showdown

‘We don’t want a crisis between Brussels and Rome,’ says EU economic affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici

European Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici at the European Parliament in Strasbourg
European Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Photo: Getty Images

The European Commission will take a soft line towards Italy in the unprecedented showdown with Rome over the country’s runaway budget deficit, according to the Brussels official leading the negotiations.

In an interview with Financial News, Pierre Moscovici, the European commissioner for economic and financial affairs, said Brussels was not looking for a confrontation with Italy that would risk making it look like “an illegitimate body: the Brussels bureaucracy bunker against the Italian people”.

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