Italy’s populist government won final parliamentary approval for its 2019 budget, barely meeting a year-end deadline after limiting discussion of the spending plans in the wake of a weeks-long clash with the European Union.
Lawmakers in the lower house voted 313 in favor and 70 against the budget, which had already been approved by the Senate. The approval came on the eve of a Dec. 31 deadline, averting a special procedure in which public spending would have had to revert to this year’s budget, with likely turmoil on financial markets.
