«Giorgetti assured me during the last meeting of the Council of Ministers that there will be no tax on extra profits, which is a somewhat Soviet Union concept. I don’t believe that we should intervene with impositional measures, instead we should have a close conversation. Talks are underway with the banking world and the insurance world so that they can make a contribution to the measure, which is right. But it’s one thing to make a shared choice, it’s another thing to impose a tax that risks frightening.” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said this, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Med Dialogues in Naples.
New majority summit
New summit in sight between the center-right leaders on the maneuver. According to what we understand, the meeting should be held today, probably in the late afternoon. On the table, among other things, is the issue of the contribution to the budget law by the banks which has raised tension within the majority. Forza Italia announces that “it will not vote, either in the Council of Ministers or in Parliament, for any tax on extra profits”. For the Azzurri it is “right to foresee an agreement between the government and the banks” but the Azzurri party says it is “against any authoritarian imposition that scares the markets”.
The text of the Dpb clarified that the contribution to the budget law requested from banks and insurance companies will be equal to 11 billion in the three-year period 2026-2028, with a payment of approximately 4.4 billion for each of the next two years. Also this morning, new talks took place between the government and the banks to find an agreement on the final figure but the agreement, Agi learns, was not found. For the executive, a final drop point could be around 4 billion per year, but the credit institutions have for days been at a line that provides for half the requested amount.
As for the hypothesis of providing only a solidarity contribution, as advocated by FI, there would be technical problems, since with that type of revenue only current expenses could be financed and not multi-year and structural programming as envisaged by the Dpb. In any case, the executive is aiming for the agreement to avoid any repercussions on business financing by credit institutions, but at the same time there is the determination to move forward to cover the planned measures.
Among the issues to be resolved is also the cut in linear expenses foreseen for the ministries, the Dpb estimates over 8 billion in savings in the next three years. On this too, it is reported, there would be a mediation course with the possibility of ‘remodulating’ the split. The Council of Ministers is scheduled for tomorrow, there are those who hypothesize a postponement to Monday to be able to find a solution on the banks’ contribution but for now the meeting remains scheduled for 11 am on the agenda.