(by Massimiliano D'Elia) The 55 billion euro Relaunch decree will have to go through Parliament's scrutiny but also find the money, because our Ministry of Economy and Finance has empty coffers, for the expenses incurred due to the emergency from Covid-19.
Beyond the promises and proclamations via TV, the reality is that money is needed, the real ones, because with chatter we are at zero. Without the "stamping" of the General Accounting Office (the certification that there are resources in the state coffers to cover the provision) the decree is waste paper, an empty container, only a poster used by the Government to show the public opinion that it State there is. MEF sources argue that the seal of accountancy should be by today.
In the meantime, there are many self-employed workers, freelancers who are living by squandering their savings, for those who still have them. The subsidies of the Italian liquidity and care decree are struggling to arrive, that is, they have not reached the entire audience of applicants. Too many delays due to bureaucratic "ties". It is no coincidence that Caritas has seen the number of users of daily meals increase dramatically. Today Italy reopens with many unknowns, from those of health security with a virus that has not disappeared at all to those deriving from the sustainability of commercial activities which, with the various restrictions, will no longer have the original potential and therefore the earnings, already at limit due to the pre-virus economic crisis.
In such a context tending to "chaos", where among the Government-Regions disputes, it is not possible to recognize the authority capable of keeping the straight bar of the Nave Italia, mafias have fertile ground who see in the general disorder new opportunities to take root more and more in the territory and increase their consensus. The alarm was launched by the same Interior Ministry who reported the "gifts"Of the mafias: advantageous loans below bank rates, food parcels and anti-Covid kits distributed free to the people. An entrepreneur said that having failed to get 25 thousand euros in the bank, he turned to the "loan sharks", very fast and with really competitive rates.
Returning to the fund chapter. The only concrete and immediate proposal from Europe are the funds from the Economic Stability Mechanism (ESM), equal to 2 percent of the GDP (year 2019) of the requesting countries, Italy would be entitled to 37 billion euros, from return in 10 years at a rate close to 1 percent.
A bridging loan, waiting for the Recovery Fund (1,5 trillion instrument, still under study and which in any case will be linked to the EU budget '21 -'27 and subsequent), without the restrictive conditions provided for by the original treaty. The only constraint is that this rain of billions is used only and only for direct and indirect health costs in the emergency of the pandemic. However, art. 14 of the Treaty, with the exception of paragraphs 2) and 4), where a sort of "monitoring" by the officials of the ESM is envisaged, on the correspondence of the healthcare expenses carried out, equal to 70 percent of the total amount paid.
The internal political debate is still very much about whether or not to join this line of credit.
The dem Orlando: “We do not argue about the Mes far in the air. At some point we will find ourselves choosing. Either we raise taxes or use European instruments, including the new ESM, with about 37 billion for our country, without conditionality and practically zero interest.".
The premier Giuseppe Conte is not willing to resort to the Mes, unless France does it too, because, writes the Republic, it fears the image damage that could come to Italy, reactivating the "brand" of the so-called Pigs countries (with Portugal, Greece and Spain) and tear with the 5Stelle, opposed to this credit line.
To about Orlando, he says: "Discussion in the abstract is useless. After the 54 billion of the Relaunch Decree, we must ask ourselves what will happen. The real issue is not yes or no to the ESM, but how much debt can we still make? How does Italy hold up its debt? Do we prefer to increase the tax burden?".
But work is also being done in Europe on the fund for European co-integration Sure and the Bei Fund for companies.
Beyond the economic engineering artifices that are being studied in Europe We must guarantee the resources for the revival decree, those 55 billion approved by Parliament in deficit, or increasing our public debt further.
The Mef, to ensure the Accounting Department, has no choice but to look at the Italian portfolio. The goal, writes Sole24Ore, is to double, within a few years, the share of public debt placed directly in the portfolios of small Italian savers. We recall that Italians hold 4500 billion of financial wealth, of which a third, 1500 billion, on current accounts.
The Mef would like to make our public debt more and more "Italian", going from 80 to 160 billion, ie from 3 to 6% the value to be put on the market. The Mef will therefore launch the sixteenth edition of BTP Italy and would also be thinking about the taxman with the project of the Bond Together - a postal interest-bearing voucher issued by CDP to deal with the health emergency without taxes on interest and other income.
Returning to BTP Italy, the guaranteed minimum is 1,4%, which could be seen to rise in the coming days. There would also be a loyalty bonus doubled to 8 per thousand, which will be awarded to those who hold the title in their portfolio until the expiry of the five years.
Another novelty is that the Treasury will accept all purchase requests from small investors without a fixed limit.