ROME (Reuters) – Italy has to spend the money provided by the European Union to tackle the economic crisis caused by coronavirus, but in the medium term it needs to reduce its high public debt, EU Economics Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Thursday.
The European Union’s executive unveiled a 750 billion euro plan on Wednesday to prop up economies hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, with Italy set to receive the lion’s share of around 170 billion euros.
“Now Italy has to spend [the money] but in the medium to long term the country needs to return to a more manageable debt path because otherwise it risks ending up in difficulty in the next years,” Gentiloni told Radio Anch’io.
(Reporting by Francesca Piscioneri; editing by Agnieszka Flak)
