This makes Rome more optimistic for 2025 than the European Commission, which has a forecast of 1.1 percent. In 2023, Italy’s economy, the third largest in the eurozone, grew by 0.9 percent and Brussels is counting on a similar figure this year. Italian Finance Minister Federico Freni said on Saturday that he is still confident that growth will be slightly higher than Brussels thinks.
The Italian government is currently working on new budget plans that comply with European standards. These plans should be published in the coming weeks. For example, Meloni’s government would like to reduce the budget deficit within two years to below 3 percent, which is the maximum under EU rules.