The Italian parliament approved the 2025 budget, according to a plan that aims to meet the European Commission’s demands to contain the deficit on the one hand and fulfill Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s pledge to cut taxes on the other.
More than half of the budget, estimated at around 30 billion euros ($31 billion), was allocated to tax cuts and social security contributions for low- and middle-income earners.
Rome had been under heavy pressure from Brussels earlier this year to reduce its debt, estimated at around three trillion euros, the second-highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the European Union. The ruling coalition led by Meloni has pledged to reduce the public deficit to 3.3 percent of GDP in 2025, noting that it is estimated at 3.8 percent this year.
Source (Emirati newspaper Al Khaleej, with modifications)
