S5 Ep10: Director’s Cut: How does Italy’s budget fit with EU fiscal rules?

In this Director’s Cut of ‘The Sound of Economics’,
Guntram Wolff welcomes Bruegel research fellow Grégory Claeys to
assess how the new Italian budget proposals measure up against
the existing EU fiscal rules.


Italy’s new budget proposals, together with projected deficit
levels for the coming years, have put the EU as well as
bond-market investors on alert.


In the context of Italy’s already-high ratio of public debt to
GDP, the coalition government’s plan to increase the budget
deficit has prompted concerns that the country risks running
afoul of the EU’s fiscal framework. 


What are the means by which the EU can monitor and, if need be,
administer sanctions on Italy, in the event of any contravention
of its fiscal rules? Bruegel director Guntram Wolff takes this
opportunity to discuss all the options facing the European
Commission and Council, as well as the specific details of the
Italian case and the forecasts underpinning the budget’s figures,
with Bruegel research fellow Grégory Claeys. 


For further reading, we recommend our full break-down of the EU’s
options for response to Italy’s fiscal plans, written by Grégory
Claeys and Antoine Mathieu Collin. 


You can also hear more on Italy’s economic and political outlook
in another of our podcasts, featuring Bruegel affiliate fellow
Silvia Merler in discussion with Marcello Minenna, PhD lecturer
at the London Graduate School and head of quants at Consob, and
Lorenzo Codogno, visiting professor at the London School of
Economics and Political Science.