The pension advance wanted by the League with the famous share 100 loses 2,7 billion as a result of a series of stakes (loss of earnings, cumulation, staggered exit windows starting from April) and a little more (2,9 billion) lose their basic income supported by the Five Stars. It is the cut that Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio had to accept yesterday evening at the request of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, in the high-voltage summit of Palazzo Chigi, for comply with the requests of the European Commission and make ends meet for the encore budget maneuver, lowering the deficit to 2,04% of GDP.
But the reduction of the area of intervention of pensions and basic income is not enough and up to a late hour the technicians of the Treasury and of the State General Accounting Office had to work to find other resources that will come from further cuts in ministerial expenditure, from blocking of full indexation of pensions exceeding 1.500 euros per month, from cut on the so-called golden pensions and from sale of public buildings which will probably be accelerated thanks to the intervention of the Cassa depositi e prestiti.
Finally, the agreement on theecotax, which will be limited to luxury cars.
Between today and tomorrow all the changes to the budget maneuver will be condensed into a maxi-amendment that the Government will present to the Senate and on which it will ask for confidence. Tomorrow, the Senate Budget Committee will resume the examination of the text which will arrive in the classroom on Thursday 20 or more likely on Friday 21 December instead of tomorrow. "It is reasonable to postpone until Friday," said Deputy Economy Minister Massimo Garavaglia, questioned on the sidelines of the meeting at Palazzo Madama.
We recall that on Wednesday the European Commission will meet instead, which is waiting for news from Italy to avoid starting the budgetary procedure which, in addition to providing for heavy fines, could inflame the markets.
After yesterday's fine-tuning, it may be that, at least on paper, the accounts balance and the Government assures that all the hedges have been found, but already today it will be clear whether, even before the European Commission, the markets believe in it or not.
Then the political chapter will open because both the League and the Five Stars will have to justify the sensational retreat in the eyes of their constituents what they did on the maneuver in the face of the inevitable request from the European Commission to demand compliance with the rules. A very serious problem especially for the Five Stars, where, in addition to the drop in the polls, the leader Di Maio is again besieged by Beppe Grillo and Alessandro Di Battista, who promises to return from Latin America to get back into the arena .
