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By Giuseppe Fonte and Angelo Amante
ROME, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Italy’s economy minister accused the European Union on Friday of being a politically weak entity incapable of making quick decisions, warning the bloc was unlikely to conclude negotiations on its new fiscal regulations before the end of the year.
At a festival organized through Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, Giancarlo Giorgetti said the EU still lacks genuine political size and is heading for a “co-ownership meeting” where participants only look out for their own interests.
“Europe is incapable of adopting a strategy at the right time,” Giorgetti said.
The minister, a senior official from the ruling League party, told the panel that Italy would like the EU to expand its own tax on big tech corporations like Apple to fund its not unusual budget.
“If Europe were a political issue, I would make that decision,” he said.
The minister is sceptical about the EU’s chances of reaching an agreement on new fiscal rules, which he wants to renew after being suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said there was “little chance” of concluding negotiations next week at a video convention of the bloc’s finance ministers, after Meloni threatened this week to veto any deal that penalized Rome.
The European Commission has proposed replacing regulations by introducing a path of fiscal adjustment focused on spending cuts over a period of four to seven years. Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, has also called on heavily indebted countries, such as Italy, to reduce their debt by at least 1% of GDP a year.
Giorgetti said this month Italy wanted to pursue its fiscal adjustment over a seven year period, provided it implemented its post-COVID recovery plan, and “without further conditions”.
“We are in this game with courage but also with intelligence,” Giorgetti said of the negotiations. (Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Angelo Amante; editing by Alvise Armellini and Mark Potter)