Economics
Euro Chiefs Dismayed by Italy's Budget as Juncker Evokes Greece
- Finance chief leaves talks with counterparts as budget rebuked
- Criticism helps push bond yields to highest since March 2014
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Italian Finance Minister Giovanni Tria’s effort to promote his government’s new fiscal strategy ended in failure on Monday, with the head of the European Commission warning of a Greek-style crisis and the nation’s bonds dropping to their weakest level in more than four years.
“Recent announcements by the Italian government have raised concerns about its budgetary course,” Mario Centeno, the Portuguese finance minister, said in Luxembourg after a meeting with his euro-area counterparts, which he heads. Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra went further, saying “I’m somewhat less optimistic after having talked to my colleagues than beforehand.”