ROME, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The government will keep its pledge to introduce income subsidies for the poor and to lower the retirement age in spite of the fact that it reduced its spending plans to avoid an infringement procedure from the European Union (EU), Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told parliament on Wednesday.
His remarks came after the European Commission announced it would not start an infringement procedure for excessive debt against Italy, which submitted a revised draft of its budget that lowered the deficit spending target for 2019 from 2.4 percent to 2.04 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
"We have been able to reduce the deficit (spending) from 2.4 percent to 2.04 percent without modifying the contents (of the budget), the number of recipients, or the time in which (the measures) will go into effect," Conte told lawmakers in a speech that lasted over 20 minutes due to frequent interruptions from opposition lawmakers.
"A lot of hard work and negotiation went into finding solution on the Italian budget. Let's face it: the solution on the table is not ideal. But it allows us to avoid an Excessive Deficit Procedure at this stage, provided that the agreed measures are fully implemented," European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis tweeted earlier in the day.
Conte told lawmakers that the revised budget lowers GDP growth estimates from 1.5 percent to 1 percent next year, and that the government will pay for its program through new taxes on digital transactions and slot machines as well as a "solidarity contribution" from pensions on the higher end of the income spectrum.
The coalition's original budget was submitted in October and was rejected by the European Commission on grounds it did nothing to reduce Italy's massive debt and was based on unrealistic economic growth assumptions.
