Italy tightens green bonus regime to reduce deficits

This vote, acquired with 101 votes in favor and 64 against, thus puts an end to a controversy within the government of Giorgia Meloni, divided over the "Superbonus", a tax incentive system supposed to make homes less energy-intensive.

Anxious to curb the drift in public accounts, the Minister of the Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti accompanied this decree with an amendment aimed at spreading over ten years instead of four the reimbursement by the tax authorities of the tax credits linked to this system.

With the key being a reduction in deficits of 700 million euros in 2025 and 1,7 billion in 2026, making it possible to reduce them respectively to 3,6% and 2,9% of gross domestic product (GDP), against 3,7 .3% and XNUMX% at constant legislation.

Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani warned on Tuesday that his conservative party Forza Italia, a member of the coalition, would vote against this amendment due to its retroactive nature, because it concerns all work undertaken since January 2024.

“The retroactivity of the rules endangers the credibility of institutions, which amounts to keeping investors away from a country that is becoming untrustworthy,” he said.

But he changed his mind when the government led by Giorgia Meloni decided to organize a vote of confidence to have the decree adopted.

“We continue to have many reservations” because “we are against any retroactive law,” Mr. Tajani declared Thursday, before adding that his party “will always vote for confidence in this government.”

The decree was also strongly criticized by employers, who feared “serious difficulties for families and businesses”. And the banks having purchased the tax credits fear a loss of their value and the negative impact on their accounts.

The “Superbonus”, intended for work ranging from thermal insulation to solar panels, was launched in 2020 by the government of Giuseppe Conte to stimulate economic activity in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.