Italy wins Senate approval for 2019 budget

The Italian government has won a vote of confidence in its budget for next year in the upper house this morning, racing to gain approval before the year-end deadline.

The budget will now pass to the lower house of parliament for a vote by 31 December, so that it can take effect before the start of 2019.

The governing coalition of Italy's 5-Star Movement and the right-wing League scored majority approval with 167 to 78 votes in favour, with three abstentions.

The European Commission reached a deal with Italy over the budget on Wednesday after months of disagreements, narrowly avoiding disciplinary action.

The final text of the budget only arrived at the Italian senate yesterday after a series of extensive changes, which angered opposition lawmakers.

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi branded the budget law "a joke", while deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio said the plans must get through parliament before the end of the year.

In October, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's government had initially proposed a budget which expanded its deficit to 2.4 per cent of GDP, up from 1.8 per cent in 2018.

Compromising with the EU this month, this was then narrowed to 2.04 per cent of GDP for the next year, while lowering economic outlook to one per cent.

The commission had threatened Conte it would discipline his government over its excessive deficit, saying it broke the EU’s fiscal rules.