Rome, Rabi'I 11, 1437, December 22, 2015, SPA -- Italy's upper chamber of parliament gave the final approval Tuesday to a spend-happy budget law for next year which may incur the wrath of European Union budget discipline watchdogs. The Senate approved the so-called Stability Law with a 162-125 vote. The centre-left government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who is urging the EU to ditch austerity policies, had called a vote of confidence over the issue, meaning that it would have had to resign in the unlikely case of a rejection. Measures in the budget law include the scrapping of an unpopular real estate tax, a pay bonus for police forces engaged in anti-terrorism duties, and a 500-euro (544-dollar) voucher for 18-year-olds to be spent on books or cultural activities. It should bring Italy's public deficit to 2.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), safely below the EU limit of 3 per cent, but higher than the government had anticipated before lawmakers added spending commitments to the bill. Despite respecting EU deficit limits, Italy is still at risk of censure from Brussels because its public debt surpasses the 130-per-cent-of-GDP mark, more than twice the allowed threshold of 60 per cent. In November, the European Commission issued a preliminary assessment warning Rome that it was at "risk of non-compliance" with 2016 eurozone budget discipline requirements. The EU executive is due to review that judgement in the coming months. --SPA 22:16 LOCAL TIME 19:16 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w