In 2021 the Central State Administration (includes only ministries and other state bodies with accounting and financial autonomy, such as, for example, the Parliament, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Court of Auditors, the Council of State, the tax agencies and educational institutions of all levels) received 3.657.000 invoices from its suppliers for a total amount of 18 billion euros. It has liquidated 2.420.000, corresponding to these companies 12,8 billion, "forgetting", so to speak, to pay 1.237.000. Thanks to this expedient, the central state has "saved" a good 5,2 billion. In addition, of the 12,8 billion honored, 28,2 per cent (equal to 3,6 billion euros) was paid late, i.e. not respecting the provisions of the law on payment times (from 2013, to following the transposition into our legal system of the European legislation -EU Directive / 2011 / 7-, payment times in commercial transactions between Italian public bodies and private companies cannot normally exceed 30 days - 60 for some types of supplies, in particular health care). These numbers are the result of a processing carried out by the CGIA Studies Office on data from the Court of Auditors3.
An unprecedented thing, the craftsmen from Mestre point out, which demonstrates how our Public Administration, in this case the central one, continues to jeopardize the financial stability of many companies, especially small ones, through conduct, in terms of payments, to to say the least unfortunate.
In fact, as highlighted by the Court of Auditors, our Public Administration (PA) is adopting an increasingly consolidated practice; settles larger invoices within the legal deadlines, thus maintaining the weighted average payment time within the limits set by the law, but intentionally delays the balance of those with smaller amounts, penalizing, in particular, companies providing services of goods and services with low volumes; that is, small businesses.
The CGIA Studies Office reminds that the non-payments described above do not also include those attributable to the regions, local authorities (provinces, municipalities, mountain communities, etc.) and health care. These latter sectors have always had payment times (average and weighted) and trade payables significantly higher than those recorded by the central government. Therefore, the complaint raised is only the tip of the iceberg of a malpractice which, unfortunately, grips our entire PA.
At least 55,6 billion still to be paid
The stock of current-account trade payables of our entire Public Administration (PA) continues to grow: in 2021, the latest survey presented in recent months4, it reached a record of 55,6 billion euros.
A figure that compared to our national GDP is equal to 3,1 per cent: no other EU-27 country records such a negative score. Of our main commercial competitors, for example, Spain's current account debt to GDP is 0,8 per cent, 1,2 per cent in the Netherlands, 1,4 per cent in France and in Germany. at 1,6 per cent. Even Greece, which last year had a public debt / GDP ratio of nearly 203 percent, has an incidence of trade debt on GDP that is almost half of ours: 1,7 percent.
The European Court of Justice has already sentenced us
With the sentence published on January 28, 2020, the European Court of Justice affirmed that Italy has violated art. 4 of the EU directive 2011/7 on payment times in commercial transactions between public administrations and private companies. Although in recent years the average delays with which invoices are paid in Italy have slightly decreased, in 2021 the European Commission sent a letter of formal notice to the Draghi government on non-compliance with the provisions of the European directive approved 10 years ago. . Finally, another procedure still open against our country concerns the code of public contracts which provides for a payment term of 45 days, when at the EU level the deadline is 30 days.
Businesses must offset tax debts with trade receivables
To resolve this age-old question that is putting a lot of pressure on many SMEs, for the CGIA Studies Office there is only one thing to do: provide by law for the straight, direct and universal compensation between certain liquid and due receivables accrued by a company towards the PA and the tax and social security debts that the same must pay to the Treasury. Thanks to this automatism we would solve a problem that we have been carrying on for decades. And finally, there seems to be some signs that go in the right direction. During the conversion of the Aid Decree into law, last Thursday the Finance and Budget Committees of the Chamber approved an amendment that would make the proposal referred to above structural. Now all that remains is to cross your fingers and wait confidently.