Meloni asks Brussels for budget flexibility, Commission replies it has already granted it

Giorgia Meloni wrote on October 1st to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen asking that the impact of inflation on Italian public finances be taken into account. In the letter, according to reports, the premier argues that the space granted by European spending rules is too limited to support households and businesses without resorting to restrictive measures.

The issue will be discussed at the next Ecofin, the meeting of the Union’s economy ministers, scheduled for October 9th.

The Commission’s response arrived even before the letter was formally received: on behalf of the EU executive, chief spokesperson Paula Pinho stated:

“we have already granted greater flexibility to Member States” — Paula Pinho, chief spokesperson of the European Commission

The timing of the response — which preceded the official receipt of the text — signals a gap in assessment between Rome and Brussels on the central point of the Italian request: whether the flexibility already granted is sufficient to address the impact of inflation on public finances, or whether further room is needed, as the premier’s letter seems to argue.

The full content of the letter is not yet known, nor which specific measures the Italian government intends to link to this request for flexibility. The discussion will now move to the technical table of the October 9th Ecofin, where the economy ministers of member countries will discuss the issue alongside other budget matters.

The political knot remains open until that date: on one side the Italian request for additional room linked to price dynamics, on the other the Commission’s position that the necessary room for manoeuvre has already been made available to Member States through the decisions taken so far.

It remains to be seen, in the coming weeks, how the two positions will translate in concrete terms into the next Italian budget law. The government will in fact have to present the planning documents taking into account the current European constraints, regardless of the outcome of the political discussion opened with Meloni’s letter. The October 9th Ecofin thus represents not only a symbolic step, but the venue in which the Italian request will be compared with the positions of the other Member States and with the line already expressed by the Commission through its spokesperson.