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Italy hit with €340m EU bill as France cashes in

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Italy hit with €340m EU bill as France cashes in
The revelation comes as Italy comes under fire for its 2015 budget. Money photo: Shutterstock"

Italy will have to pay the EU an estimated €340 million on December 1st, according to a leaked document which shows France is due to receive a €1 billion rebate.

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Italy’s bill is the result of new calculations of VAT and gross national income (GNI), which has prompted the EU to make financial “adjustments”, according to the leaked document published by The Financial Times.

While under the provisional estimates Italy has been asked to pay back €340 million, France is due a €1 billion rebate. Germany will also benefit from a cash injection of €779 million.

The UK will take the biggest hit, owing €2.1 billion, according to the document, while The Netherlands is set to repay €642 million.

The revelation was described as “another book-keeping problem that won’t make premier [Matteo] Renzi happy,” by La Stampa, as the prime minister quarrels with Brussels over Italy’s 2015 budget. 

Renzi on Thursday threatened to publish the costs of EU institutions, after being chastised by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso for publishing an EU letter about Italy’s budget.

The row follows news that the Commission could next week demand the Renzi government rewrite its 2015 budget, which misses structural reform commitments.

The prime minister has, however, denied such a move is necessary, saying “the Italian budget poses no problems.”

READ MORE: Renzi vows to publish cost of EU 'palaces'

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