Returning from Sardinia, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi opened the meeting of the social partners at 17 pm but above all he convened the Council of Ministers for 20 August, which will have to approve the new maneuver to anticipate the achievement of a balanced budget to 18 as, without too many compliments, both the ECB (letter from Trichet and Draghi from the other day) and the European Union, Merkel in the lead, ask.
In the majority, however, a tug of war is underway which will probably have its turning point tonight when Berlusconi, after the meeting with the social partners, will see the head of the League, Umberto Bossi. The Government is at a crossroads: either to cut pensions (first of all by completely abolishing or postponing future old-age pensions) or to introduce a light patrimonial tax on second homes or on the financial wealth of families and on financial income. The League, the unions and the Democratic Party would prefer the second option while Berlusconi insists on the first. A compromise is not excluded but time is running out especially after the panic reactions on the stock exchange.
Tomorrow Tremonti will speak to the joint commissions of the House and the Senate.
