They’re not the ones who have to live with it.  Brussels is just sitting on the safety of the sidelines, carping.

The European Union took the unprecedented step Tuesday of rejecting Italy’s draft budget as incompatible with the bloc’s rules on fiscal discipline, escalating a battle between Europe’s establishment and populists in Rome.

Italy’s economic woes impact other members of the eurozone, of the EU at large?  They don’t have to.  The EU has no more obligation to bail out Italy—if the eventuality eventuates—than it had with Greece.  Italy has no more need to put other nations ahead of its own economic well-being than had Greece.

If Brussels actually has an interest, it should work with Italy, not block it.  That’s all on the EU, not on Italy.

Good, bad, or indifferent, it’s Italy’s budget, not Europe’s.  Italy should press ahead, as though Brussels hadn’t squawked.  National sovereignty matters.