Politico learned about the EU's demand for Meloni to cut costs

Brussels has ruled that Italy's growing budget deficit has exceeded the fiscal norms of the European Union (EU), while the government of Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni is increasing spending in an attempt to mitigate the consequences of the escalation in the Middle East. This was reported by the Politico newspaper on April 22.

According to Eurostat, the deficit was 3.1% in 2025. Rome exceeded the pan-European threshold by 0.1 percentage points, which made the Meloni government's priority goal of withdrawing the country from the European Program to reduce public spending unattainable.

Losing her political leadership, Meloni will not be able to use the budget to strengthen her position before the upcoming elections in 2027, and will be forced to cut costs at a time of crisis, the article says. Italy is expected to displace Greece from the position of the country with the highest level of debt in the EU within a year.

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According to Eurostat data dated April 22, by the end of the fourth quarter of last year, Italy's public debt exceeded €3 trillion, such debt has already been recorded in two EU countries. At the end of 2024, only France was able to overcome the €3 trillion milestone among the countries of the European community.