Italy's populists challenge EU with plans to boost deficit

After tussling with Economy Minister Giovanni Tria for weeks, the four-month old government on Thursday proposed a 2019 deficit that is, at 2.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), three times the previous administration's target. The rub is that Italy has the largest debt among big European Union economies, at 131 percent of GDP, and it is under pressure from the EU to rein in spending amid fears it could sow the seeds of a new debt crisis in the euro zone. In a move certain to raise hackles with the European Commission, which monitors and enforces EU fiscal rules, the government sees the deficit remaining at 2.4 percent for the next three years, rather than progressively declining toward zero as the Commission's recipe prescribes.

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