The game lies in reconciling the times of the economy with those of politics. For this reason the first package of measures anti-crisis (from at least 15 billion in the next two years) will arrive in Parliament a couple of weeks later than expected. If before the deadline was at the beginning of next month, now Prime Minister Mario Monti is speaking more likely of an inclusive date between the EU summit on 9 December and the Christmas break. The Professor wants to develop a perfectly balanced text, unassailable by the parties, in order to travel in record time towards approval. A destination that can also be reached thanks to the "fast track" guaranteed by the presidents of the Chamber and Senate, Gianfranco Fini and Renato Schifani.
The new interventions were discussed in greater detail in the cabinet which took place this morning. However, the node relating to the appointments of deputy ministers and undersecretaries, which however should be resolved by the beginning of next week. On this point, Monti had a face-to-face meeting with Angelino Alfano, Pier Ferdinando Casini and Pier Luigi Bersani yesterday evening.
Meanwhile, Europe continues to look kindly on the work of the new Executive in Rome, while not giving up on pressing. He landed this morning in the capital Olli Rehn, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs: "Italy has formidable challenges ahead of it - he said in front of the Budget and European Affairs Committees of the Chamber and the Senate - We will present a first report on Italy to the Eurogroup next Tuesday,” he added. The date of the new trilateral meeting between Monti, Merkel and Sarkozy should also be specified shortly. The new appointment, which will follow the first one yesterday's summit in Strasbourgwill take place in Rome.
Now let's see what are the latest news on the measures contained in the next package:
PENSIONS, FLEXIBILITY DILEMMA
The original idea of the Minister of Labour, Elsa Fornero, was to create a flexible mechanism that would allow people to retire between the ages of 63 and 70, but with penalties and micro-incentives for those who chose to retire respectively before or after the age of 65. However, the State General Accounting Office has expressed strong doubts about this model, which does not allow any savings to be predicted with certainty for the public coffers. Thus, the project to tighten the "quota 100" by 2015 could come back into vogue. Retirement pensions are increasingly at risk.
TAX: MORE VAT, LESS IRAP AND IRPEF
The possibility of a further upward adjustment of the third VAT rate, which Tremonti had already raised from 20 to 21%, is gaining ground. The new increase of one point would make it possible to recover another 4,2 billion euros a year. However, an increase of two percentage points or a tweak on the intermediate rate, currently at 10%, is not yet excluded. The money collected in this way could be used to reduce Irap and Irpef on the lowest incomes.
AUTHORITY FOR THE VERIFICATION OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
An autonomous office for the verification of public expenditure could be created shortly. The original cell should be the office of the Budget Services of the Chamber and the Senate, to be linked up with the Court of Auditors, the State General Accounting Office and the Bank of Italy, on the model of the Congressional budget office of the United States. It is possible that this proposal will already arrive in the Chamber next Tuesday.
BALANCE OF THE BUDGET IN THE CONSTITUTION
On that same date, in fact, the new constitutional bill will be presented for the reform of article 81 of the Charter with the introduction of the constraint on a balanced budget. The text already presented by former minister Tremonti is considered too complex, for this reason – on the initiative of Pietro Giarda, Minister of Relations with Parliament – work is being done to make the legislation clearer.
NEW TAX ON THE HOUSE, THE "SUPER-IMU" ARRIVES
It should be a variation on the ICI theme, revisited on the basis of the principles of fiscal federalism. The rate should be lower than that of the tax abolished by the Berlusconi government (6,6 per thousand), but it is probable that the real sting comes from the revaluation of cadastral income, which could go from 105 to 115/125%. However, taxation should be progressive, with deductions for the lowest incomes.
