Italy passes budget after EU standoff

ROME: The Italian Senate on Sunday passed a revised 2019 budget agreed after a tense standoff with Brussels which saw the populist government water down key measures. Senators passed the budget put forward by the governing coalition of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and the anti-immigration League by 167 votes to 78, with three abstentions. It was passed by a vote of confidence after midnight that avoided debate of around 700 amendments, provoking acrimonious scenes in the Senate with the opposition complaining about the lack of debate. The budget is expected to go to the lower house after Christmas and before a New Year deadline. In a historic first, in October the European Commission rejected Italy’s big-spending budget, which promised a universal basic income and scrapped pension reform. In a deal reached on Wednesday, Italy agreed to reduce the cost of both of its landmark measures, and is now committed to not adding to its colossal two-trillion euro debt load next year. The EU and Italy negotiated intensely with both sides worried that a protracted feud would alarm the markets and ignite a debt crisis in the eurozone’s third biggest economy.­