It has a good tradition that Italy's Prime Minister will be raging against Brussels if they get the chance. The conservative Silvio Berlusconi liked this. The young Socialist Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, who wants to do it differently, is in the best tradition of the media moguls from Milan.

A week ago, Matteo Renzi had announced that he would stick to his deficit plans even if Brussels were to see a breach of the euro stability criteria. "We want to respond to the needs of Italian citizens, not to the Brussels technocracy," he said. Europeans were horrified that this was the announcement of a breach of the law.

Now the Italian government is intensifying the confrontation. After the European Commission demanded clarifications on Monday of Rome, Italy's Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan returned on Thursday. He did not recognize the willingness to draw attention to the budgetary debate.

Renzi is under great pressure

This is the beginning of the official effort between Brussels and Rome. Last year, Renzi had severely strained the patience of EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. After a hard blow, Renzi got what he wanted: maximum flexibility in the application of the Euro rules.