The Day the Lega Threat Shook the Budget

The morning was dominated by a shift in European diplomacy, with editors highlighting a 90-billion-euro loan agreement for Ukraine. This consensus focused on common debt while explicitly rejecting the seizure of Russian assets, a move Giorgia Meloni described as a victory for common sense. Simultaneously, Vladimir Putin’s end-of-year press conference took center stage; editors tracked his refusal of territorial compromises and his dismissal of the EU's asset strategy as "robbery." By early afternoon, editorial attention shifted to a domestic judicial flashpoint: the court's refusal to return children to the so-called "forest family," a decision that drew sharp political condemnation from Matteo Salvini. Throughout the evening, the primary focus converged on a governing crisis. The budget law (Manovra) stalled as the Lega party threatened to exit the coalition over pension reforms. Editors monitored a series of late-night government summits and the subsequent withdrawal of the government's own decree, signaling a deepening internal fracture within the majority.