The maneuver is surrounded. From Genoa, where the CISL mobilization starts, to Naples, with the mayor and president of the ANCI Gaetano Manfredi calling for a meeting with the government. Up to Rome, where the hearings in the Budget Committee of the Chamber will begin on Monday: an opportunity for local authorities, unions and associations to make their reasons heard.
Three choices are "really serious" for the CISL secretary, Daniela Fumarola, and must be changed. The flat tax at 15% up to 100 thousand euros for the self-employed, because with the same income, employees and pensioners pay more than triple in taxes. The crackdown on the revaluation of pensions, defined as "pure injustice". And the cut of almost 7 thousand places in schools is "absurd and short-sighted". "We need an immediate discussion", insists Fumarola, relaunching the appeal for "a pact that unites" to overcome the divisions of a divided country, prisoner of opposing demagoguery.
The comparison has so far been lacking. Not only with the unions, summoned to Palazzo Chigi only on Friday the 13th, when the government has "already decided everything", as denounced by the general secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini. Even banks and insurance companies, called upon to bear the brunt of the maneuver, complain about the lack of dialogue.
"Do we have to open a legal dispute to make ourselves heard?" asked the president of Ania - National Association of Insurance Companies, Giovanni Liverani. In an interview with MF, he expressed all the disappointment, in the method and in the substance, for an additional taxation of almost 1.4 billion in the next three years. According to Liverani, better alternative solutions can emerge from a "fair" confrontation with the government. The insurance companies will present their proposals to the House on Monday.
The Abi-Italian Banking Association is also preparing for its hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, and for the meeting at Palazzo Chigi on Friday, with the other companies' acronyms. For this reason it will make use of primary legal and tax firms, including the firm of the former economy minister and parliamentarian Giulio Tremonti, who has seen many maneuvers, and that of the jurist Giuseppe Morbidelli.
One of the issues to be explored is the Superbonus credits spread over ten years. The Deputy Minister of Economy, Maurizio Leo, said he was optimistic about the possibility of changes, but banks, construction and technical professions are alarmed.
The coverage of the budget law derives above all from tax increases and almost half of the total is borne by the financial sector, underlines the Observatory on Italian public accounts directed by Carlo Cottarelli: the fiscal pressure is thus destined to rise from 43% in 2026 to 43.2% in 2027. The observatory of the former extraordinary commissioner for the spending review also rejects the spending reduction measures, which are worth "only" 2.6 billion, not much for a country in which public spending is worth over 51% of GDP.
Further cuts would be unthinkable, however, for municipalities. Manfredi warned that budgets are under pressure: between rising inflation, high energy prices and growth in requests for social benefits, the moment is "complicated". The president of the ANCI cited as an example scholastic assistance for disabled people which costs almost a billion at a national level, but receives a contribution of not even 200 million from the government.
Meanwhile, Matteo Salvini insists in his battle so that the Fornero law will be passed in 2027 with Quota 64. The League has let it be known that the work continues to "strengthen" the fund already foreseen in the budget, but also to strengthen Strade Sicure and also the rental bonus for separated parents. Dem MP Arturo Scotto responds to him on pensions: "he continues to make fun of workers", he says, recalling that the government has extended the retirement age and cut revaluations for pensioners. While Angelo Bonelli, of Avs, opens up the cybersecurity front. Given that there are previous cuts of 15 million a year, he proposes to Giorgia Meloni to reduce spending on weapons and shift it to cybersecurity.
