After days of secret meetings and indecision by the majority, the process that will lead to the approval of the 2024 budget law has finally begun; a process that the executive seeks to speed up by asking majority parties to refrain from submitting amendments: an unusual situation in which the election is also determined by the scarcity of available resources and difficult accounting balances. We are talking about this with Francesco Silvestri, group leader of the 5 Star Movement in the House of Representatives.
This process took two weeks, with many drafts distributed and then lied to, but eventually the Meloni government was able to initiate the manoeuvre. You were very tough from the very beginning regarding the formulation of the budget law: Is it the final decision?
“The end result is a flurry of taxes: they add VAT on children’s products, which costs 150 euros more per family per year; they add VAT on basic women’s products, even there a cost of 500 euros has been calculated per family; they increase the flat rate tax. ..taxes everywhere”.
There is also the retirement chapter. They were supposed to repeal the Fornero law, but they strengthened it…
“Elsa Fornero said that the Meloni government is moving more harshly than ever on pensions. As we speak, doctors and nurses are in a state of war as their pensions will be adjusted downwards. The current and future social effects of this maneuver will be very serious indeed.”
Like every government, the reason given is “the blanket is too short”
“Giorgetti says that the maneuver is slow because there is no money; then we discover that the extra profit rule exposes the banks to the possibility of not paying a single euro in tax on those exposed to a 70 percent increase. And this is what I presented to the Chamber on March 15, Considering there was a bill that I proposed amendments to and rejected eight times, they took it back, sold it again with propaganda videos, and then rendered it harmless. We wanted to tax the banks to help the people, so they left the banks alone and taxed the people. Giorgetti’s complaint is, “It looks even more absurd if we consider that in this budget maneuver twelve billion are programmed for a bridge over the Strait of Messina. It serves absolutely no purpose, and arms expenditures have increased by a billion”.
Let’s try to find something positive: there is a small cut in the tax bracket, some help for large families through good kindergartens and tax deductions for mothers with many children. Very little?
“In January, people will not see an extra euro in their salaries, because the cut in the tax wedge is nothing more than confirmation of the measures taken by the governments of Conte and Draghi: they have not added anything. What will increase will be taxes I They say they have collected billions of dollars in oil excise taxes this year and several hundred million dollars in gasoline excise taxes.” “I would like to add that they refunded it as a discount. The cost of living will place a much greater burden on families than what is being implemented to help them.”
The majority parties were asked not to submit amendments, which never happened.
“In fact, something similar has happened in the past. The hypothesis of making the budget law unchangeable by the majority recalls the reform made in the regulations of the House of Representatives dated 1925, when Mussolini made a speech about the murder of Matteotti. The third paragraph of Article 78 envisaged the government’s consent to changes in expenditures. The implementation of Article 6 of Law No. 2263 dated 24 December 1925, which states that ‘No article can be included in the money’, will be implemented in a short time. ‘In short, the stable order of a government that orders its majority not to improve or try to improve a budget law, without the approval of the Head of Government, of one of the two Parliaments. “It is a very serious message to include in the agenda. The perspective of our democracy.”
Many say this is a maneuver that will not bring growth. I imagine you share this vision.
“I remember that not only the 5 Star Movement, but also Confindustria revised its GDP forecast for the coming year downwards, so we are talking about zero growth and zero planning. This is a completely wrong budget law and will bring us negative economic and social data” “.
And obviously you’re going to try to change that. What will you recommend corrective measures for?
“The 5 Star Movement will present corrective measures on pensions and healthcare, where there are very heavy cuts for the public sector and at the same time two billion are envisaged for the private sector: the aim of this government is to try to weaken the public sector.” Then we will continue our fight for the minimum wage, which the government does not dare to say no to and hides with parliamentary tactics, and we will try to cancel the spending increases. “In terms of armament, we will also try to cancel their investments in the bridge over the Bosphorus,” he said.
On the same day that the majority completed the agreement on the budget, the agreement on constitutional reforms was also announced: The government is moving towards the prime ministership. How does the 5 Star Movement stand?
“We have already conveyed to Meloni what our suspicions are: but we would like to remember that in a serious country, between November and December, we are talking about budget laws and how to help people, not about the prime minister’s office. If we go today and ask in the streets, in bars, in taverns, what are the priorities, no one will answer ‘the prime minister’s office’ “That’s why we categorically refuse to talk about things that serve to distract the masses from the obvious failures of this administration. They talk about reforms, this little game has to end.”
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Source: Today IT
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
