Public administrations, central and local, hold shares in 7.712 bodies. This is what we read in a study by the Confindustria Study Centre. With charges for taxpayers that in 2012 amounted to 22,7 billion. In terms of cost, the institutions that have their registered offices in Lazio are in the lead: 9,5 billion. Followed by those in Lombardy (5,5), Veneto (1,1) and Piedmont (1,0). 63,9% of these do not produce public services. With total costs of 12,8 billion. The reorganization of these holdings is urgently needed. A necessary step for the dual purpose of recovering resources to reduce the tax burden and the public debt and to free the market from the often improper presence of the state.
The use of investee companies has become an increasingly widespread source of abuse, which takes advantage of dominant positions on the market and makes it possible to circumvent the constraints of public finance, personnel recruitment and the purchase of goods and services. The regulations passed in recent years have proved ineffective in containing this phenomenon. The 2014 stability law further weakened the strict rules imposed in previous years. The problem of how the PAs use these mechanisms must not only be posed, but the very opportunity for this to happen must be questioned.
HIGH COST OF PUBLIC SUBSIDIARIES
The Finance Law for 2007 introduced the obligation for all public administrations to communicate the data relating to their shareholdings in companies and consortia precisely to clarify the thousands of institutions and companies. Starting from 2008 it was thus possible to structure the CONSOC database (Management of the participation of public administrations in Consortia and Companies), which is updated from year to year.
In 2012, there were 39.997 stakes held by public administrations in 7.712 external bodies. 62,7% of equity investments are in companies, 34,5% in consortia and 2,8% in foundations (Table A). Most of the PAs' shareholdings are less than or equal to 50% (37.635 out of 39.997), 1.200 are totalitarian and 1.159 are above 50%. The largest number of participations is from the PAs in Lombardy (7.496 participations) followed by those in Piedmont (7.061), Veneto (4.123) and Tuscany (3.606). In Basilicata (135) and in Molise (155) the lowest number of holdings, also due to the smaller economic tonnage.
The total cost incurred by the public administrations for the maintenance of these bodies amounted to a total of 22,7 billion, approximately 1,4% of GDP. A very substantial figure. The PAs in Lazio (which include the central PAs as well as the local ones) bear a burden of almost 9,5 billion. In Lombardy just over 5,5 billion. The Consoc database does not make it possible to distinguish under what title these charges have been paid into the coffers of the investee organisations. In general, they are related to service contracts entered into, expenses to acquire company shares, to cover losses, to increase capital, to credit granted and to other current and capital transfers.
The amount of charges determined by the investee bodies borne by the PA is much more significant than the budget result, which can be in profit or, in many cases, in loss. Because it is the overall costs that constitute the true cost of these organizations for the community. Moreover, regardless of the budget balance and the cost to the community, there is a borderline question of the activity carried out: manufacturing production, just to give an example, does not seem exactly the core business of the public sector.
The Consoc database collects information on all participating organizations both at local and state level. Approximately two-thirds of the total charges are determined by bodies participated by Regions, Municipalities, Provinces and other local autonomies. The remaining third derives from bodies owned by the State (Table B). Within the territorial entities, the local PAs of Lombardy (5.499 million), Lazio (2.217 million) and Veneto (1.027 million) bear the highest overall costs.
The entities wholly owned by the PAs are those that cost the most: in 2012, the 1.203 wholly owned shareholdings resulted in costs of 15,7 billion (Table C). This is presumably attributable to the fact that these organizations are the ones that take the greatest responsibility for the production and provision of public services of general interest.
MORE THAN HALF DOES NOT PRODUCE PUBLIC SERVICES
Furthermore, it is important to distinguish which of the bodies owned by the PAs produce services of general interest and which, on the other hand, are an improper extension of public intervention in the economy. The latter, in fact, could be abandoned or even their respective costs could be eliminated, in order to recover resources, without affecting the provision of public services. On the basis of the data available, the only way to understand the activity carried out by the participating organizations is to refer to the code of activity carried out (according to the Ateco classification).
By cross-referencing the Consoc database with the Aida database, it was possible to associate their financial statements and the related Ateco code with the subsidiaries. Among the Ateco codes, those which in a first approximation do not refer to services of general interest have been selected. In any case, a margin of error remains due to the possible incorrect registration of the Ateco code by the participating bodies (registration which is a legal obligation) and to the discretionary nature of the selection of the Ateco codes that identify the production of public services.
On the basis of this crossing, it was possible to examine 4.864 participating organizations out of a total of 7.712, i.e. 63,1% of the organizations registered in the Consc database. This is because the rest are not included in the Aida database.
The data show that almost two-thirds of the bodies examined (3.106 out of 4.864) do not carry out activities of general interest even though they absorbed 2012% of the costs incurred by the PA in 56,4: 8,6 billion out of the 15,3 billion disbursed to bodies alone which it was possible to obtain the Ateco code (Table D). If it were assumed that even for the organizations listed in the Consoc database for which it was not possible to reconstruct the Ateco code, 56,4% of the charges were paid to those that do not produce services of general interest, the resources that could be saved by eliminating the transfer of resources to organizations that do not perform public services.
This estimate could even be underdeveloped, because the Consoc database does not report all the bodies in which the Public Administrations participate. The degree of coverage of the survey was published only for the Municipalities, which, in 2012, was equal to 65% of the universe2. This means that 35% of the Municipalities, more than a third, have not communicated the organizations in which they participate.
In conclusion, despite being a pioneering attempt given the limited information available, it is clear that the phenomenon of investee companies is out of control and important resources could derive from the reorganisation. An intervention can no longer be postponed also because the new criteria for drafting public accounts (Sec2010) which will come into force this year, provide for important changes in this regard.
