What Happened On June 5, the European Commission issued a report arguing that an Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) against Italy is justified and asked EU governments to authorize the implementation of one. The bloc's finance ministers are expected to make a decision on the matter July 9. If the EDP is approved, Brussels would watch to see whether Italy implements policies to reduce its debt and deficit. Failure to heed the commission's requests could eventually result in a fine of up to 4 billion euros (or roughly $4.5 billion). Why It Matters The government in Rome has roughly a month to convince Brussels and the rest of the EU governments that it is committed to reducing its deficit and debt. Italy avoided sanctions over this same issue in late 2018 by promising to keep its deficit at 2.04 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year.