Italian prime minister suggests suspending EU spending rules over Iran war

Italian prime minister suggests suspending EU spending rules over Iran war Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday the European Union should consider temporarily suspending its strict spending rules if the Iran war and the resulting energy shock worsens. "If the Middle East crisis were to experience a new escalation, we should seriously consider the issue of a European response not dissimilar in the approach and tools to that deployed in response to the (Covid) pandemic," she told parliament. "In that case, we believe it should not be taboo to discuss a possible temporary suspension of the Stability and Growth Pact. Not a waiver for individual member states, but a generalised measure." EU members are bound by spending rules obliging them to keep the public deficit below three percent of economic output and debt at 60 percent of GDP, but the EU can suspend the rules in exceptional circumstances and crises