Italian prime minister suggests suspending EU spending rules over Iran war

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday the European Union should consider temporarily suspending its strict spending rules if the Iran war and the resulting energy shock worsens. "If the Middle East crisis were to experience a new escalation, we should seriously consider the issue of a European response not dissimilar in the approach and tools to that deployed in response to the (Covid) pandemic," she told parliament.