The Commission said last week Italy's excessively expansionary
2019 budget was in breach of EU fiscal rules and would not
decrease the country's large debt as required.
This set the stage for a possible disciplinary procedure that
could lead to fines and would leave Italy in the market
spotlight for a prolonged period. But over the last days Rome
has sent signals it could tweak its budgetary plans.
"We are not at war with Italy," Juncker told a news conference
at a meeting of leaders of the world's 20 largest economies
(G20) in Buenos Aires.
"The atmosphere is good. We are making progress," he said,
adding that he would have a meeting with Italy's Prime Minister
Giuseppe Conte later on Friday or on Saturday.
"I want Italy to be the Italy, Italy always was inspiring
Europe, not turning its back to Europe," Juncker said, urging
not to "dramatise" the current dispute with Rome over its
budget.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio in Brussels; editing by Jan
Strupczewski)
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