Italy: Towards new household support measures

Italian parties are calling on Mario Draghi’s government to adopt new relief measures to deal with continued increases in the energy sector.

With the pre-election period underway, the demand is being made by almost all political forces: from the League to the Five Stars and the centre-left Democratic Party.

According to the press, the Italian technocrat prime minister is expected to go ahead with the announcement of new emergency aid to households and businesses later this week, after he is likely to meet with political leaders. But there is one condition set by both Mario Draghi and his close partner, Finance Minister Daniele Franco: that the relevant resources must be found without causing an increase in the public deficit.

The most likely measures are the extension of the cut in fuel taxes, by 30 euro cents per liter, but also the coverage of a week’s unemployment fund per month, for the workers of companies that are at risk of stopping production, due to the frantic pace of the energy appreciation. At the same time, the total number of monthly installments may increase for households that fail to pay their electricity and gas bills. Until now the upper limit of installments is ten.

The excess profits of the companies

Of course, there is also the crucial issue of extraordinary taxation for the excess profits of companies in the energy sector. As the newspaper La Repubblica writes, so far in a total of 10 billion euros that should have been given to the Italian public, these companies have paid only one billion. Most chose the appeal route, but Mario Draghi himself made it clear that everything possible will be done to collect all the amounts owed.

The Italian government has even decided that companies that pay what they owe by the day after tomorrow, August 31, will be subject to a reduced fine.

Theodoros Andreadis-Syngellakis, Rome

Source: Deutsche Welle