Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini | Daniel Kopatsch/EPA-EFE | Daniel Kopatsch/EPA-EFE Matteo Salvini to Brussels: ‘We are not changing a comma of the budget’ The Commission has ‘run into the wrong government and the wrong minister,’ interior minister says.

Matteo Salvini said on Thursday that the Italian government will not change "a comma" of its budget plan for next year, even though it was rejected by the European Commission.

"As we are polite, we open the little letters from Brussels, we read them, we respond to them," Salvini, the interior minister and leader of the far-right League party, said. "They write back and we respond, but we are not changing a comma of the budget."

"If Brussels or some big professors want Italy at zero growth, they have run into the wrong government and the wrong minister," Salvini added, ANSA reported. "We are tranquil."

The European Commission on Tuesday gave Italy three weeks to rewrite its budget draft — or face further consequences.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Bloomberg TV earlier this week that his government has no "Plan B." Finance Minister Giovanni Tria wrote to the Commission on Monday, saying: “Italy is aware it has chosen a path that isn’t in line with EU rules. It was a hard decision but necessary in order to bring the country’s GDP back to pre-crisis levels and considering the ongoing economic difficulties for Italians.”