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Italy's government has drawn up a draft budget for 2019 that
includes a budget deficit of 2.4 percent of GDP. The European
Commission has rejected it, saying the deficit is too high, and
has called on Rome to change its fiscal plans.
"I do not see that danger because no one commits suicide,"
Juncker told Austrian broadcaster ORF when asked if Italy would
abandon the euro, but he did expect fallout from the budget
dispute.
"For the first time someone is saying the (EU budget) rules are
of no interest to us. That will have consequences," he said.
Asked what those consequences were, he said Rome has to answer
the Commission's questions by mid-November "and then we will
see".
"Many Italians want to remain a member of the European Union, a
growing number of Italians also clearly support the euro because
Italians ... notice, feel, know, sense that the euro protects
them, too. And in terms of arguments we will move in that
direction," he said.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Alison Williams)
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