BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission gave Italy’s 2023 budget its green light on Wednesday, but noted several negative points.
The decision is “positive with some critical remarks”, EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said, adding that Rome has exercised due caution in its budgetary measures.
“Overall, Italy’s revised draft budgetary plan is in line with the recommendations of the Council of July 2022: Italy limits the growth of primary current expenditure financed by the State and plans to finance public investments for green and digital transitions, as well as for energy security,” the Commission said.
Giorgia Meloni, President of the Italian Council, said the Commission issued a “positive assessment which confirms the good work of the Italian government, underlines the solidity of the budget and reaffirms the vision of development and growth which guides it.”
The project, currently being examined by Parliament with the aim of its approval by the end of the year, despite a series of amendments, emphasizes lower energy bills and lower taxes for employees and self-employed persons.
“Italy should better target energy measures to reduce demand and help the most vulnerable,” Valdis Dombrovskis, vice-president of the European Commission, wrote on Twitter.
Brussels added that Italy had yet to make progress on laws to reform its tax system to further reduce taxes and increase the efficiency of the system.
The draft budget “includes measures that are not in line with the structural part of the previous budget recommendations, in the area of pensions and tax evasion, in particular with regard to the mandatory use of card payments and the thresholds legal for cash payments,” the Commission said.
The Italian government wants to lift sanctions against merchants who refuse to accept card payments for items under 60 euros and raise the ceiling for cash payments to 5,000 euros.
(Report Jan Strupczewski in Brussels and Cristina Carlevaro in Milan, French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Blandine Hénault)