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Bloomberg
Italy’s squabbling populist coalition partners were expected to meet on Sunday to seek agreement on key parts of the country’s contentious 2019 budget in a bid to gain European Union approval and avoid sanctions.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will meet with Deputy Premiers Luigi Di Maio, Matteo Salvini and Finance Minister Giovanni Tria to discuss the budget plan and see whether a deal is close enough to be finalised, a spokesman for Conte said.
The distance between Italy and the European Commission has narrowed, but the government has been asked to come up with an additional $4 billion of measures to reduce the structural deficit, Corriere della Sera and other Italian dailies reported on Sunday.
The last negotiations with the EU took place on December 14, said an EU official who asked not to be identified.
Now Italy’s government needs to discuss the issues and make a decision, the official added.