Il dear energy alarms the Mayors who are asking the government for a help to face 2023 with fewer problems. The point is that the increase in the price of energy products has weighed (and a lot) on municipal budgets.
The Association of Municipalities (ancient) sent a letter to the House and Senate Budget Committees listing the needs of Mayors to rebalance spending. The energy item, in essence, is just one of the many requests that the first citizens claim towards the executive. This is a very substantial batch included in a New Year's package, also to the attention of theopposition, in regards to the role of Italy in the European context.
I municipal services in the year ending they suffered heavy effects both from the increase in the cost of energy and from other services. For energy, the Anci complains a hole of about 600 million euros divided between the funds made available by the government (990 million) and 1.600 million foreseen in expenditure for 2022.
Dear energy: the mayors' requests for 2023
The mayors say they have succeeded in plug the leak of expensive energy autonomously but by 2023 the situation will have to change. For this purpose, it is requested to activate a comparison table, as happened with the Covid emergency. On this point, a signal must also be given to the environment and to the transition with non-polluting sources. "Italian identity is based on the municipalities, custodians of a thousand specificities, and mayors today more than ever before are in the forefront of political commitment, they carry out the most difficult work in the institutional sphere". So said the premier at the recent assembly of the Anci in Bergamo.
Without replying directly to Giorgia Meloni, the mayors have chosen to involve the parliamentarians who could satisfy the requests in the context of the financial manoeuvre. Together with energy, the package of requests includes fiscal peace, bonuses for civil servants, tax bills, public transport, environmental emergencies. done the sum, the requests reach the figure of 1 billion euros.
Mayors cannot wait for EU decisions
The focus shifts to the amendments to the maneuver that it allocated 21 of the 35 billion euros in total to energy. The premier in Bergamo had underlined that without help from the European Commission it would have been difficult to sustain the expensive bills for a long time. But, according to the latest news from Brussels, the Commission is not expected to take any decisions until March. What will the mayors do then? Will they usher in the new year by raising taxes? The liquidity crisis scares citizens above all who should bear the burden of healing the coffers of their municipality.
The energy market will still be mobile for a long time, so it is unrealistic to wait for (any) EU decisions. The issue can be addressed “at home” anticipating some resources to the Municipalities (provided they use it well), studying proposals alternatives to save, setting a maximum level of increase in bills for 2023 or other. All without the protests of the energy companies and with the citizens' interest at heart.
