The blanket is short. And the 23-25 billion euro maneuver that the government aims to propose will certainly start from the confirmation of the cut in Irpef rates in force from this year and the reintroduction of the reduction of the wedge on medium-low wages.
It also takes shape a renewal of the aid provided for working mothers. Of course, a first point on the interventions to be financed will be made between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the two Deputy Prime Ministers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini at the end of the month, on August 30. But it is already clear that this is an item for which resources must be found. The Minister of Labor, Marina Elvira Calderone, and Salvini himself spoke about it to the Catholic audience at the Rimini meeting. And, if it is true that two clues do not make proof, it is also true that the anticipations of two ministers make a quasi-certainty. “We must be prudent, we must look at the stability of the accounts”, said Minister Calderone who spoke, in addition to the contribution wedge, also of the “confirmation of the interventions in favor of parenthood”. Shortly before, Salvini had counted on his fingers, among the many measures, the “three that are closest to the heart of the League: the total exemption from social security contributions for working mothers with two or more children, the extension of paid parental leave to 80% and the strengthening of the nursery bonus”.
The tax relief for working mothers with three or more children is already planned for the next two years. Instead, the possibility of having this discount – which is worth a maximum of 3,000 euros per month, but which concerns 570 thousand women with children – also for women with only two children expires at the end of the year. The attempt, last year in the budget, was to extend it further, but the resources found stopped at 500 million euros and this led to limiting its scope. This year too, the issue will be resources. A task that falls to the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, who has already made a first round with his various fellow ministers to ask for spending to be contained.
The 23 billion currently hypothesized in the maneuver are still looking for about 10 billion in resources. One of the bets will be the two-year preventive agreement. The government has made it more convenient and it will be possible to join until October 31, when the maneuver, just launched, will have just begun its examination in Parliament. The expected revenue will be looked at and the trend estimates can be adjusted, looking at the room for maneuver for further interventions, to extend the benefits now expected by Cuneo and Irpef up to 35 thousand euros to average incomes. The main road indicated by the governor of the Bank of Italy Fabio Panetta that passes through a “prudent management of public accounts” with the “gradual achievement of adequate primary surpluses” finds support in the government. “I absolutely agree that we must be prudent – said Minister Calderone – we cannot make promises that do not take into account the stability of the accounts. However, I believe that it is important first of all to reiterate some commitments that have been made and that we have said we want to maintain, such as the reduction of the contribution wedge to provide significant support to families, especially those with low incomes.”
Prudence on the accounts makes it difficult for significant interventions on the pension front to find room. Salvini reiterated his desire to “aim to overcome the Fornero law” without however returning to talk about quota 41, which is the Lega’s hobbyhorse. The pension issue certainly heats up politics, which will have to find the necessary coverage and which has not yet found a definition. So much so that even rumors, such as those of a project that 12 CNEL experts are working on that plans to increase the minimum contribution period for receiving pensions from 20 to 25 years, are immediately denied outright. But they confirm the fact that the pension construction site is in full swing.