Too many electoral promises, too little money to implement them. This was admitted by the Prime Minister herself, Giorgia Meloni, opening the first cabinet meeting after the summer break. The first opportunity for a comparison between the parties in the majority on the priorities (many) and the resources available (few), putting them face to face with reality: choices will have to be made, renouncing or downsizing the more substantial interventions such as, for example, the "Quota 41” dry recently relaunched by the League. And then there is another important issue: Tim. The cdm has given the green light to two different measures: the first is a decree law which ensures financial resources, the second a Dpcm which authorizes the Ministry of Economy to enter Netco with a minority stake, as required by the memorandum of understanding signed on August 10 between the Treasury and the US fund Kkr. The mef will take over up to 20% of the fixed network company, Necto.
Meloni on Tim: "We assume strategic control of the network"
"After having found a serious solution for Ita with an agreement with Lufthansa, EU Commission permitting, and which sometimes raises problems that we hardly understand, now is the time to give a perspective to what has been one of the international telecommunications champions" , said the Prime Minister, explaining that “The direction taken by the government is the one that the center-right has always hoped for and supported: take strategic control of the network of telecommunications and safeguarding jobs”.
According to what is foreseen, the Mef will have a minority stake in Tim “for a maximum amount of 2 billion and 200 million but it is a participation aimed at ensuring in any case the exercise of special powers, substantially the ability to influence in terms of security strategy on what we consider an infrastructure, the TLC network, as decisive for the future of the country”. The Minister of Economy explained it Giancarlo Giorgetti during the press conference that followed the dpcm: "We hope that with this action we can somehow give a stable and definitive picture to a story that has been living in a situation of impasse for a long time, and which in the coming months could have a definitive solution ”. Participation, underlines the minister, “is aimed at ensure the exercise of special powers, and therefore the ability to influence in terms of strategy and security on what we consider an infrastructure, i.e. the telecommunications network which refers in particular to the implementation of fiber, as decisive also for the future country”.
Giorgetti: "possible privatization of public subsidiaries"
The economy minister then spoke of the next budget law: “The amount of the maneuver will also depend on international and European factors: in the middle of the month we will discuss – perhaps we will reach an agreement, perhaps not – on the new rules of European governance. We don't run the hundred meters, but the five thousand".
As far as privatizations are concerned «there are situations that could give rise to one reallocation of state holdings, today we are discussing a strategic operation, we could also evaluate other operations in which to divest".
Budget law, Meloni to ministers: "Find the resources, you need realism"
“I share Minister Giorgetti's request to invite every Ministry to check in detail the resources currently spent, the items of expenditure, the measures currently financed - Meloni said Waste and inefficiencies must be cut and the few resources we have must be spent in the best possible way, because this is a political government and governments are political if they choose and assume their responsibilities ”. “What I ask of you – she told the ministers – is not a simple spending review or a list of items to be cut, but to bring politics back as much as possible“. In short, the request is to cut as much as possible to try to raise resources for the next Budget Maneuver. In fact, on appeal about 20-25 billion would be missing. An enormous figure that could block the way to the many electoral promises made by the majority parties.
"The first appointment we have before us is the writing of the budget law, - added the premier - the most political of the laws that a government can make". Last year, the energy emergency "absorbed two thirds of the maneuver", but "this did not prevent us from launching some important signals and charting a direction: I am thinking of cutting the tax wedge or the resources that we have chosen to allocate to family, starting with the increase in the single allowance. Measures that have traced a direction. A direction that we must now consolidate and strengthen".
“We cannot afford waste, – added Meloni – we are paying heavily for the Superbonus 110% disaster and I invite Giorgetti to illustrate the numbers of this accounting tragedy that weighs heavily on the shoulders of all Italians. In the complex of building bonuses introduced by the Conte 2 government, including the facade bonus, the documents of the Revenue Agency tell us there are more than 12 billion of irregularities. So much for those who accuse the center-right of being a 'friend' of tax evaders and scammers. Thanks to badly written rules, the biggest scam against the state was allowed".
Budget law: work, family and pensions the 3 pillars, how much money is needed?
At least 20-25 billion must be found for the Budget Maneuver: Meloni's request to the ministers meeting in the council is therefore to do the accounts, starting from three pillars: work, family, pensions. On the first point, the priority is the renewal of the contribution wedge cut for employees, effective from July and expiring at the end of the year. How much does it cost? 9-10 billion. Added to this is the tax relief of thirteenths, which in the intentions of the Executive should already be brought forward to the current year. family chapter: measures in favor of the birth rate and large families from aid to families with three children, to concessions for those who hire mothers, to the bonus for the second child. Cost? 4-5 billion.
Third front: pensions. Quota 41, in its original version, is unfeasible. For now, therefore, only small adjustments are being studied for the already existing measures: it should be confirmed 103 quota, or the possibility of leaving work at 62 years of age and 41 of contributions and theSocial bee for disadvantaged workers, while Woman option could be retouched by widening the audience again to those who have 35 years of contributions with a minimum age that could be raised.
It is then necessary to find resources to kick off the Messina Strait Bridge project (at least 1-2 billion is needed) to renew fringe benefits (1-2 billion here too) and finance non-deferable expenses (6 billion euros).
Not to mention the start of the Irpef reform which would need 4 billion (but we will wait for the Nadef at the end of the month to better understand the margins).
Meloni: "Migratory pressure not seen for years, but the direction is the right one"
"The direction taken by the government is the right one: agreements with the countries of North Africa, of departure and transit of flows, but it is necessary to add to this direction of travel more, tighten the links, give clear signals to traffickers and coordination is needed greatest among us in the activity of contrasting the illegal flows of migrants". Said the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who then added: "Italy is undergoing migratory pressure as has not been seen for many years now, also following recent and less recent events in the Sahel, with huge number of arrivals. It's difficult to explain to the public what you are witnessing and I understand it well. The data show that there is a strong increase compared to the previous year even if, by carefully reading these numbers, we are witnessing a slowdown in the increase in migratory flows”.
Constitutional reform
“This must also be the year of major reforms, starting with the constitutional reform, on which Minister Casellati is ready with a proposal that achieves the two objectives we have set ourselves: to give stability to governments and to let citizens decide who should govern. It will be one of the first measures that we will launch, but there is also the completion of differentiated autonomy, the reform of justice, the fiscal delegation that we must complete”, said the Premier.
State of emergency for the floods of May-August 2023
During the council of ministers, the government approved a state of emergency for 12 months, for the floods that occurred between May and August 2023, after the report of the Minister for Civil Protection Nello Musumeci.
These are the resources allocated: for the Lombardy Region (9.430.000 euros), Veneto (8.330.000 euros), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (7.750.000 euros), provinces of Teramo, Pescara and Chieti, in Abruzzo (4.120.000 euros ), of Cuneo, in Piedmont (650.000 euros) and for the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, Ferrara, Ravenna and Forlì Cesena, in Emilia Romagna (4.500.000 euros). "We have accepted the requests made by the presidents of the regions," said Musumeci.
