Italy’s Matteo Renzi, a vocal critic of German-inspired austerity, blanked European Union calls to respect the spirit of back-room negotiations as he shifted his rhetoric up a gear in the bloc’s perennial argument over fiscal rules. After German Chancellor Angela Merkel trotted out her line that nations must stick to deficit limits, Renzi dismissed accusations his budget risked missing spending goals and said that he’ll publish confidential communications between the European Commission, the EU executive body, and his government, Bloomberg reported. “The era of secret letters is over,” Renzi told reporters as a two-day summit got under way in Brussels.
