Comments by the commission's European affairs minister Pierre Moscovici
- Dialogue can continue but expects an answer from Italy by then
- Next steps depend on Italy's budget response
- Says that EU fiscal rules must be respected
- Italy's policy that entails higher public debt is not favourable to growth
- Sanctions can be applied if there is no compromise on Italy's budget
That last line is a bit of a warning there. I don't expect them to go down that route but it'll certainly keep things interesting if they do. We're only a week away and at the moment it's still a game of chicken. Italy has reiterated that they won't budge yesterday, so let's see who blinks first in the next week.
