5-Star, League want ECB to forgive €250 billion of Italy debt

The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and far-right Northern League plan to ask the European Central Bank (ECB) to forgive €250 billion of Italian debt.

The draft accord also calls for renegotiation of Italy's European Union budget contributions, end of sanctions against Russia and plans to scrap a 2011 pension reform that raised the retirement age, according to Reuters report. 

Italy''s borrowing costs are already on the rise due to fiscal concerns. The 10-year Italy-German bond yield spread rose to four-month highs last week. Meanwhile, Italy's 10-year bond yield clocked a three-month high of 2.14 percent and rose as much as 26 basis points this week - the biggest weekly rise since March 2017.