Renzi Lashes Out at German Trade Surplus

Italy Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has urged Germany to do its homework and start reducing what he calls its excessive trade surplus. He suggested it was at least partly behind the problems the Italian economy was facing, DW reported. Answering questions about Italy’s controversial 2017 budget law on the sidelines of an EU meeting in Brussels, Renzi said Germany had many problems, including a large trade surplus which he said violated European Union fiscal rules. “I think that Germany’s balance sheet is problematic, starting from a trade surplus, which does not respect our rules, and I hope, think and expect that our German friends can finally proceed with rebalancing this,” Renzi said. Observers on the ground saw his attack as an attempt to deflect questions on Italy’s own budget after his government presented a 2017 draft foreseeing higher deficits and debt. Under the plan, the budget is to widen next year’s fiscal deficit target to 2.3% of GDP, up from the 1.8% goal that the government had originally pledged.