The European Union's statistics arm, Eurostat, estimated Monday that the Italian public deficit came to 3.1 percent of output in 2003 and 2004, overshooting a 3.0 percent EU limit.

Until now, Eurostat has refused to validate data for the Italian deficit for the two years submitted by the Italian government that put the deficit at 2.9 percent in 2003 and 3.0 percent in 2004.

The EU's Stability and Growth Pact requires countries to keep their deficits to less than 3.0 percent of gross domestic product.

Eurostat said it expected further details from Italian authorities soon.

"Depending on the outcome of the examination, this could lead to a further upward revision in the government deficit for the period between 2001 and 2004," Eurostat said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the European Commission said it would draw up a report on the Italian deficit and probably submit it in July to EU finance ministers, who could decide to launch excessive deficit procedures against Italy.

An EU source said last week that the commission would decide at a meeting in Strasbourg on June 7 about whether or not to launch the procedures against Italy.