EU's Juncker says Italy faces excessive deficit procedure

The outgoing president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on Tuesday that Italy was "moving in an unsound direction" and risked getting into the EU's so-called excessive deficit procedure.

He hoped that could be avoided and said that would depend on Rome's next financial and economic commitments.

"We made it clear that we think Italy is moving in an unsound direction, so we have to take relevant decisions in that field, but I think Italy is running a risk in being in coming years in excessive deficit procedure," Juncker said, referring to EU regulations that require it to reduce its high debt.