The discussion between the government and the unions on the maneuver is postponed. The prime minister Giorgia Meloniinfluenced, close to the meeting she postpones the appointment and sends everyone back to next Monday, the earliest possible date given that her week will continue abroad with the summit of the European political community and the informal European Council in Budapest. The requests of the workers’ representatives therefore remain, for now, on standby, awaiting a signal from the government called to respond on what the CGIL has defined as the “cuts fair”. But the majority also has other things to manage: among the urgent matters, deciding what to allocate the 1.3 billion euros of the agreement to, and how to reopen a window, as well as finding a compromise on the Rai license fee that the league wants to cut and Forza Italia no .
A few minutes before the meeting scheduled at the government headquarters, Prime Minister Meloni “personally contacted the trade union leaders”, according to Palazzo Chigi, to announce the postponement of the meeting due to “a state of flu”, and to set the new given as soon as possible, i.e. next Monday at 8.30 in the morning. The unions already considered the call to be late and then skipped, because it arrived with the maneuver already in Parliament and therefore with little margin to intervene. Expectations, during a new week of waiting, are destined to drop even further. For the CGIL the maneuver is insufficient on many fronts. One above all is the wedge, where there is “a zero-balance round” with the extra 17 billion in personal income tax for workers and pensioners this year. “Totally” disappointing also for Uil which, in the absence of answers, together with the CGIL keeps on the table the general strike of 29 November. The position of the CISL is different which sees some positive interventions but opposes cuts in schools, in the automotive fund, and asks for an extra effort on minimum pensions. The secretary of the Democratic Party also intervenes on the issue Elly Schlein. He does not dispute the fact that, due to the flu, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni postponed the meeting with the unions. For the Dem secretary, the fact that a dialogue on the maneuver was never activated with the social partners must be stigmatised.
Next week, on Wednesday, the government will also see businesses. The president of Confindustria, Emanuele Orsiniexplained that work with the government “for growth” is ongoing, so much so that he also had a meeting with the prime minister yesterday. The margins for changes to the maneuver remain very narrow, however, because the additional resources come only from the proceeds of the concordat of which the deputy economy minister is now Maurizio Leo begins to give the first estimates: the over 500 thousand VAT registrations would have brought in 1.3 billion euros. “It seems like the agreement went well“, explains Leo, but evidently the government is aiming for something more. For this reason, an evaluation is underway on the reopening of the terms, he confirms, underlining how there are “all the conditions to bring home a certainly interesting result”. The hypothesis under study is a decree that reopens a window immediatelyi.e. more quickly than an amendment to the tax decree or the budget. The proceeds of the concordat, which initially Minister Giorgetti and Leo would have liked to allocate to a further reduction of the Irpef, are now “at the service of the majority and the government, for measures in favor of the weakest groups, the middle class or for other interventions will then be decided by the government”, clarifies the deputy minister himself. A sign that in the majority the reflection is still open, and the positions are not necessarily aligned.
As in the case of the Rai license fee, with the league continuing its battle to ensure that it remains at 70 euros and does not return to 90 as envisaged in the budget. For this reason he will present, by this morning’s deadline at 10 am, an amendment to the tax decree for examination by the Senate Budget Committee. Together with someone who asks to pay the November Irpef advance in installments. On Rai, however, the clash in the majority is open, so much so that the deputy prime minister and foreign minister himself, Antonio Tajaniintervened to reiterate his ‘no’ to cutting the license fee. The issue remains that of the certainty of resources for the public service company.
