The challenge of ensuring that
strategic investments are decoupled from the reform of the EU
Stability and Growth Pact is a priority for the government,"
Premier Giorgia Meloni said on Monday.
"The challenge of governance reform concerns investments: if
Europe makes strategic choices such as the green transition, and
the digital transition, and defence, then it cannot punish those
nations that invest in the transition with rules that do not
recognise the added value of these investments," Meloni told the
general assembly of the regional business association
Assolombarda in Milan.
"For us, the challenge of deducting those investments from the
calculation of the debt-to-GDP ratio is a priority," she added
in relation to the reform of the fiscal rules governing EU
member states.
Last month Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti expressed the
same position at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council
(ECOFIN) in Luxembourg.
"In order to ensure stability, it is important in our view that
adequate attention be paid to investment policy, particularly
investments that have been prioritized in the European context,
especially those relating to the environmental, energy and
digital transition," said Giorgetti.
"They are investments of limited duration and an already
certified quantified amount," he added, reiterating that the
Pact needs to focus more on growth.
Italy "accepts and shares" the principle of public finance
responsibility but this is not enough, he told his EU
counterparts.
"I remind you that we are talking about a a Stability and
Growth
Pact. Stability is important especially in times of instability.
But growth is necessary to ensure sustainability," said
Giorgetti.
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