The inefficiency of our Public Administration (PA) costs us dearly. As the European Court of Auditors (European Court of Auditors, Rapid Case Analysis) has denounced in recent days. Commitments not yet settled in the EU budget - an in-depth analysis, April 2019), we count 22,3 billions of euros not yet paid by the EU European due to the delays that our ministerial and regional offices have accumulated in recent years in the planning / design phase of the Structural Funds (1) of our competence. Also, our PA has a debt stock with its 57 billion euro suppliers, 30 of which can be attributed to delays exceeding the contract payment times (2)
"Both when it is called to collect the money from Brussels and when it has to pay the invoices issued by its suppliers - declares the coordinator of the Studies Office Paolo Zabeo - our PA accumulates appalling delays that penalize, in particular, the world of small and medium-sized enterprises. In both cases, however, no one in Europe records worse scores than ours. A leadership that does not honor us and that relegates us to the very last positions in the EU, even when the quality / quantity of public services provided to citizens and businesses is measured ".
Furthermore, for the million Italian private companies that work for the PA, the situation has worsened further in recent years.
Split payment has made its debut since the 2015. This measure obliges the central administrations of the State (and from 1 ° July 2017 also the public companies controlled by the same) to withhold VAT from the invoices received and to pay it directly to the Treasury. The goal was to combat tax evasion, or to prevent the private enterprise from paying the tax system the value added tax to the tax authorities, once the consideration has been received by the public contractor.
The mechanism, certainly effective in preventing the dishonest entrepreneur from paying VAT to the treasury, has, however, caused many financial problems for all those who have nothing to do with evasion. That is to say the vast majority of companies.
“Our PA - claims CGIA secretary Renato Mason - not only pays with an unprecedented delay, but when it does, it no longer pays VAT to its supplier. Therefore, the companies that work for the State, in addition to suffering often unreasonable payment times, also pay for the non-collection of VAT which, while representing a turnaround, allowed companies to have greater liquidity to face current payments. This situation, coupled with the contraction in bank loans to businesses in recent years, has worsened the financial stability of many small businesses ”.
To remind us that the situation is still very critical is the European Commission which, despite acknowledging the efforts made by the Italian Government, has started an infringement procedure with a letter of formal notice in June 2014 and the subsequent sending of the reasoned opinion in February 2017 .
Despite these reminders, the Italian public administrations needed on average 100 days to pay their bills. Faced with this situation, the Commission in December 2017 decided to refer Italy to the Court of Justice of the EU, reiterating the systematic delay with which Italian public administrations make payments in commercial transactions, in violation of the rules of EU on payments. According to the latest data relating to the periodic investigation conducted by Intrum Justitia, in 2018 our PA paid its suppliers on average after 104 days: more than double the European average which, on the other hand, pays after 41 days.
Finally, the CGIA reports that: "Although the Bank of Italy affirms that there is a slight decrease in the amount of the debt estimated at 57 billion euros - continues Mason - even the researchers of via Nazionale again underline that in comparison with the other European countries, Italy has on average longer payment times and an overall amount of debts to be honored that has no equal ".
"However - concludes Zabeo - the unacceptable thing about this story is that our PA, despite almost 5 years have passed since the introduction of the electronic invoice in commercial transactions between public clients and private companies, does not yet know the stock of commercial debt accrued at 31 December 2018 ".
The question, however, should be resolved in a very short time. In fact, by next 30 April, all public administrations will have the obligation to communicate to the electronic platform (CCP) managed by the Mise the stock of commercial debt matured at 31 December 2018. A deadline, that of the end of April, which will be re-proposed every year, so that each public body will be obliged to send the unpaid spending commitments referring to the previous year. Furthermore, every 3 months, the amounts of the invoices received since the beginning of the year, the payments made and the weighted average payment and delay times will be updated. Finally, the values relating to invoices received in the previous year, overdue and not yet paid for over a year will be disclosed every month.
IN DEPTH:
(1) The ESI Funds generate over two thirds of the entire backlog that Italy must collect from the European Union. The latter comprise five different funds, governed by Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, known as the 'Common Provisions Regulation'. The Structural Funds have two components: the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which since 1975 has provided support for the development and structural adaptation of regional economies, for economic changes, for the enhancement of competitiveness and territorial cooperation throughout the EU. ; and the European Social Fund (ESF), established in 1958 with the aim of contributing to the flexibility of jobs and companies, promoting access to employment, participation in the labor market and social inclusion of disadvantaged people, all forms of discrimination and create partnerships to manage employment reforms. The other three funds that make up the ESI Funds are: the Cohesion Fund, which only supports less developed Member States, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). Of the 22,3 billion in appropriations allocated by the EU to Italy but not yet paid, just over 2 billion refer to the seven-year period 2007-2013.
(2) Bank of Italy, Annual report, p. 154-155, May 2018. Since 2013, following the transposition into our legal system of the European directive against late payment (directive EU / 2011/7), payment times cannot normally exceed 30 days (60 for some types of supplies, in particular healthcare ones).