Claudio Borghi recognizes Giancarlo Giorgetti's reasons. But then he steps on the accelerator.
Rates are rising, clouds are gathering on the horizon and for the senator-economist of the League it is time for a "courageous" maneuver: putting more money into circulation before zero-point growth is "sunk into a cradle". And raise the stakes: Giorgia Meloni stops chasing the totem of a 3% deficit. The prime minister, he claims, has so far been "compliant" with European rules, now "she should not care". Also because Paris "is running on a deficit forecast at 5.4%, if not higher, and nine countries are under procedure like Italy". "We must get out of the Calimero syndrome", urges Borghi, pointing to France as the real sick person in Europe. A response to the Economy Minister's call for prudence and a signal that, in the majority's backyard, there are already those who are measuring how far to drive the maneuver.
At the meeting on Friday, when it became clear that there would be at least as much money for the energy emergency as for defense, Matteo Salvini considered the objective achieved and left the meeting. A result that came with a cut in the funds initially hypothesized for the defense, which Guido Crosetto instead found indigestible. But once one box is closed, the rest of the financial statement remains to be made. And the blanket is shorter than the flags. The League puts Quota 64 and flat tax at the top and, if something has to be missed, the more prudent wing thinks about sacrificing the social security booklet for new borns. Forza Italia also calls for ambition, but with different tones. "Not just prudent", rather "careful", says the economic manager Maurizio Casasco: we must "push growth, not forget the social aspect and optimize resources". Among the blue fixed points, tax relief on thirteenth grades and immediate cashback of 19% on health and veterinary expenses to free school books for some groups. The menu remains long and from Monday FI will return to thinning it out, after an initial river meeting with Antonio Tajani, group leaders and governors. "No one has a magic wand," warns Alessandro Cattaneo, citing a "start tax" for young people, an intervention on pensions and more limited measures, from veterinary expenses to free school books. Then the passage from the keeper of the cash register: "We will also go to Giorgetti". FdI, however, remains closer to the brakes of the Minister of Economy. "There is no need to flag this or that measure, but to find the most effective ones without breaking the public accounts", warns Senator Marco Lisei, underlining that the priority is to help families and businesses faced with the shock of petrol and gas prices, seeking more margins in Brussels.
However, the allies also outline different paths regarding requests to the EU. In the correspondence with Ursula von der Leyen, Meloni does not ask to suspend the Pact, but to correct the path to absorb inflation. Borghi instead calls into question the very race to a 3% deficit, FI hopes for adapted constraints and a stop to Ets and Cbam as long as the Hormuz crisis lasts. Inside the FdI, however, no one is thinking about the breach of the Pact: especially since the hawks' wall, with Berlin and The Hague acting as sentinels, remains standing. And the search for margins also extends to the Recovery Fund, where Meloni is moving together with 15 other countries to ask for reimbursements to be deferred. Brussels, for now, takes note. Raffaele Fitto does not go too far: the European Commission will "evaluate" the new Italian letter, he recalls from Rome, but a first breakthrough has already been opened with the extension of the safeguard clause to energy.
Regardless of the European negotiation, for the opposition it is the very philosophy of the maneuver that does not return. And, at least on weapons, the broad field finds compactness again. Above all, the 14 billion for defense end up in the crosshairs: a "sword of Damocles" on the other priorities, the bubble of the dem Antonio Misiani; proof that Giorgetti's prudence "disappears when it comes to weapons", highlights Angelo Bonelli. Nothing more than "pure madness", comments Giuseppe Conte.
