By Anna McLauchlin - 9th May 2004
Europe's finance ministers are set to reject EU rules controlling eurozone government budgets by refusing to tick off Rome for overspending.
There is little support for a European Commission recommendation to launch a formal warning against Italy under the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact.
"Most member states will not be pressing for an early warning for Italy", a diplomat said on Monday.
Brussels recommended the red card after forecasts indicated Rome would likely exceed the pact’s three per cent budget deficit limit this year.
Italy's finance minister Giulio Tremonti has already said he will tell his colleagues of plans to tighten Rome’s budgetary belt on Tuesday and they are likely to support him.
“The issue is not whether Italy will exceed the pact's limit but whether this is the right time to launch an early warning,” the official said.
The commission said on Monday it stood by the decision. "We have made a recommendation and we will defend it at the council on Tuesday," said spokesman Gerassimos Thomas.
Euro ministers will discuss the situation at a meeting on Monday evening but the formal decision on Italy will not take place until all finance ministers convene in Brussels on Tuesday.
Any member state can demand the matter pass to a vote, at which stage a qualified majority of the now 25 member states is required for a recommendation to be adopted.
If ministers reject the commission’s recommendation it will be the second time governments have not endorsed Brussels over national spending.
In November ministers sidestepped the stability pact and voted down the commission's request to crack down on France and Germany's budgetary positions which could eventually have lead to hefty fines for both countries.
As a result the commission took the council to the European Court of Justice. The case has not yet been decided.
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