EU's Oettinger says believes Commission likely to reject Italy's budget

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union Commissioner for the EU budget Guenther Oettinger denied on Wednesday a media report saying the EU Commission had already decided on the rejection of Italy's draft budget for next year.

"I did not say there is a Commission decision on Italy," he said on Twitter after the German website Spiegel Online published an interview with him.

"It is my personal opinion that based on the figures it is very likely that we have to ask Italy to correct the draft budget," he said, clarifying he had not said the Commission would send a letter to Italy on its budget on Thursday or Friday.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio)