After a major setback for nationalist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the Chamber of Deputies approved additional borrowing for Italy’s government on Friday.
Two hundred twenty-one votes to 116 backed the government’s request to expand this year’s budget deficit to 4.5% of GDP from 4.4% under existing trends.
Politicians said roughly 50 right-wing deputies were absent on Thursday when the coalition failed to get the 201 votes needed to authorize the extra borrowing.
The right-wing bloc, in control since October, was surprised. A senior coalition legislator, who requested anonymity, told Reuters it showed parliament alliance flaws.
Meloni needs both chambers of parliament to accept the idea in the next few hours to utilize the financial leeway to pay hefty tax cuts for middle- and low-income employees on May 1, International Employees’ Day.
“We have our responsibilities, we take our faults and we will learn from our mistakes,” Maurizio Lupi, leader of a small centrist coalition party, told the chamber before the vote.
Tommaso Foti, the lower-house head of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, rejected political concerns and blamed MPs who didn’t vote.
Barring last-minute shocks, the Senate will approve later in the day.
3.4 billion euros ($3.7 billion) was borrowed. It will reduce this year’s tax wedge—the gap between an employer’s wage and a worker’s take-home pay—for workers earning 35,000 euros or less.
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