"The provisions of the maneuver, added to what has been done in past years, will linearly lead us to the objective of a balanced budget, which is fundamental because it will automatically trigger the reduction of the public debt". These are the certainties of the Economy Minister, Giulio Tremonti, who illustrated the main points of the budget law in a new press conference at the Treasury in the early afternoon. The text was signed this morning by the President of the Republic and will be published in the Official Gazette today.
The superminister then clarified the real impact of the maneuver on the budgets for the next few years: “two billion will come from the decree in 2011, six billion in 2012, eighteen billion in 2013 plus another two from the welfare delegation. Finally, in 2014, 25 billion will arrive from the decree, plus another 15 from the delegation”. The total amount of the provision is therefore 51 billion in four years. If we add the enabling law for the tax reform (17 billion between 2013 and 2014), we rise to 68 billion.
Tremonti then reiterated that "no one has asked Italy to balance the budget in 2011. We have to do it in 2014 and already today we have all the legal tools to do it". To this end, the minister believes that the mandate on tax reform will be exercised by 2012. Otherwise, "we are committed to blocking 15% of all tax assistance schemes".
As for the cuts to the costs of politics, "they exist and they are of enormous importance". And it really couldn't have been done more, given that "a more radical intervention would not have been signed by the President of the Republic". Indeed, the scissors to the political world would represent a "revolutionary and radical change for the country". The provision "could have been done at Masaniello - Tremonti underlined again - or that everything changes so that nothing changes".
Despite the newfound serenity in the Executive, the maneuver continues to be attacked by the Municipalities, thrown into crisis by the cuts to local authorities together with the stability pact. The Anci is on a war footing: "In the absence of exhaustive answers - reads a note from the Association - we will adopt all the necessary tools" also through "appeal to the Constitutional Court". As it is - according to Graziano Del Rio, vice president of Anci - the budget is "a tombstone on federalism". Also according to Vasco Errani, president of the Conference of the Regions, "the maneuver does not ensure possibilities for the territorial government and entails the non-governability of the territory".
