The Commission had never rejected an EU member's budget beforePARIS - 24 October 2018: The European Commission on Tuesday rejected Italy's draft 2019 budget, the first time the EU executive has ever sent a member state back to the drawing board over spending plans.Charging Rome with "openly and consciously" flouting pledges made, the Commission gave Italy's populist government three weeks to present a new plan to curb spending in line with the rules. "The Italian government is openly and consciously going against commitments made," Dombrovskis said. "If trust is eroded all member states take damage. "Experience has shown ...that higher fiscal deficits and debt do not bring lasting growth. "The (Italian) fiscal plans are not in compliance with the legal framework, but Italy is not the next Greece," the German head of the European Stability Mechanism said.

Source: Egypt Today October 23, 2018 16:07 UTC