Salvini, the country's deputy prime minister, said the EU's fiscal rules had failed and that they should be rewritten to focus on cutting unemployment.
ADVERTISEMENTItaly's Matteo Salvini, fresh from leading his party to victory in the EU elections, has demanded a re-writing of Brussels' budget spending rules.
Salvini, the country's deputy prime minister, said the EU's fiscal rules had failed and that they should be rewritten to focus on cutting unemployment.
Italy's government-debt-to-GDP ratio is 132% and is the second largest in the Euro area — only Greece's is higher.
"We have to focus on jobs and growth and scrap rules which have been defeated by evidence, history and the popular vote," said Salvini in a Facebook post.
The EU's rules say a country's budget deficit cannot exceed 3% of GDP.
Italy wants to implement policies that would see its figure creep up to 2.4% when it is supposed to be on around 1.8%.
Rome came into conflict with the Brussels over its spending rules last October and the European Commission's vice president, Valdis Dombrovskis, has warned that the country's spending could not continue.
A key policy the leader of the League party wants to introduce is a flat tax measure that critics would say will increase the deficit further.
In a letter to Italy's finance minister Giovanni Tria, the European Commission has requested an explanation about the deterioration in Italy's public finances and will reassess the indebted Mediterranean country's fiscal health on June 5.
Disciplinary action could lead to fines of €3bn.
