Meloni comments on the Istat data on the deficit at 3.08% and the revisions on growth estimates

The data on the deficit "also regrets me because on the same day in which Istat says that we are at 3.08 it also says that it is revising the growth estimates for 2024. It has happened every year that after a year they have been revised to growth, I don't know if Istat underestimates Italians or the government and I'm sorry about this, I wouldn't want it to happen even in three years", said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Porta a Porta on Rai Uno.

"I'm sorry, we did a very complex job which led us to reduce the deficit from 8.1 to 3.08. So the classic one was 30, you were very close to 31. Staying under 3% would have allowed us to get out of the infringement early."

The data on the deficit "also regrets me because on the same day in which Istat says that we are at 3.08 it also says that it is revising the growth estimates for 2024. It has happened every year that after a year they have been revised to growth, I don't know if Istat underestimates Italians or the government and I'm sorry about this, I wouldn't want it to happen even in three years' time".

"I don't think the President of the Republic is afraid of ghetto classes: I have read this prevailing interpretation" which read his words "to contest the government's initiative but personally I don't read it that way, because the President of the Republic says that schools must overcome ghettos, not create ghettos" and the desire to create "more balanced classes" goes in this direction, added Meloni to Five Minutes specifying that the 30% ceiling concerns foreign children "who don't speak our language".

"When the President of the Republic was Minister of Education he drew up circulars that invited not to concentrate foreign children in the same class, it is a common sense measure. I think it is right to continue it", added Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, guest of Five Minutes.

The rules on the burqa at school "are common sense, they also serve a safety purpose, I must point out to those who are tearing their clothes today that similar provisions also exist in countries with an Islamic majority. It seems to me to be a common sense measure that has nothing to do with discrimination". Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said this on Porta a Porta on Rai Uno.