Technical mystery in the Chamber. The thriller aired at Montecitorio revolves around an important measure added with an amendment to the liberalization decree: the one which provides free current accounts for pensioners who receive up to 1.500 euros per month. A rule of fairness in favor of the less well-off, but unfortunately for them too "a great deal of damage to the banks“. At least according to the Undersecretary of the Economy Gianfranco Polillo, in the Budget Committee announced the Government's intention to abolish that provision through a new measure, "given the difficulty of introducing changes to the one in question".
Soon, however, it arrived thereflat denial by the Undersecretary for Development, Claudio De Vincenti, during the work of the Finance and Productive Activities Committee of the Chamber. “On the law on current accounts – he replied – the Government gave an absolutely positive opinion. What the Parliament has decided is valid".
But let's go back to Polillo. The undersecretary of discord believes that the measure it could even cause “a further credit crunch which would inevitably reverberate on businesses and families”. Furthermore, “the provision on the reduction of interchange fees would result in a reduction in revenues for banks with indirect effects also on tax revenue". The bulletin of the parliamentary commissions then states that according to the undersecretary “the provision would also application problems, since the exclusion of subjects who receive other incomes such as to make the threshold of 1.500 euros per month exceed, perhaps by a large margin, is not expressly envisaged”.
Polillo underlined – still in contradiction with De Vincenti – how the amendment was introduced in the Senate with the contrary opinion of the government. An opposition due "rather than to reasons of merit, to reasons of method, as it would have been preferable to convene a technical table among the interested parties, rather than intervening with the law".
If all of this were true, the bankers would have won one of their most important battles. “There are several solutions in the short term, we trust in the dialogue between Parliament and the Government – he said Antonio Patuelli, vice president of ABI, after the meetings between the association and the leaders of Pdl, Pd and Udc -. We have verified a common sensitivity and attitudes towards not complicating the rules of the banks, rules that do not exist in any part of Europe”. The amendment would also be "unfunded, because abolishing bank commissions means affecting state revenues", albeit indirectly.
We recall that the purpose of the amendment was to correct an evident imbalance created by another law, this time approved with the Italy bailout. We are talking about the traceability measure, which requires the use of "traceable instruments" (translation: no cash) for payments over one thousand euros. This obliges thousands of retirees to open a current account where they can have their social security check credited. To the full advantage of the banks, which – without the amendment – will be able to collect the new commissions undisturbed.
