The government, majority and opposition are seeking Roma participation in an inter-municipal solidarity fund. The original plan envisaged excluding the capital from resource distribution mechanisms designed to reduce regional disparities and guarantee essential services. The Capitol will receive a fixed amount and will no longer be calculated based on fiscal capacity and need standards. Calculations that cause variations in allocated resources each year. On the other hand, they will pay a small portion of the IMU share that is intended to feed the solidarity fund itself.
The proposal has gained cross-sectional consensus among political forces, from the Democratic Party to the Muslim Brotherhood in Italy. “There is a system in the works,” explained the Deputy Minister of Finance, Sandra Savino, on the sidelines of a meeting between the parliamentary group and the State Accountant General, Daria Perrotta, to discuss possible amendments to the Budget law adopted by the majority and the opposition. A package that includes three main chapters: support for regions affected by natural disasters, Italian citizens abroad and, of course, local governments. Roma participation in equalization funds falls into this broad category. The government is studying the issue in consultation with ANCI. The state conference meeting is scheduled for today. On the agenda is an agreement on the distribution of funds for 2026.
PROPOSAL
“We hope that the ongoing consultations on the sidelines of the review of the Prime Minister’s Decree regarding the establishment and distribution of the Municipal Solidarity Fund for 2026 will be successful, regarding the possible exit of the capital Rome from the equalization component of the Fund itself”, Anci explained at the session, “The hypothesis of its exit will bring the undoubted benefit of simplification and relaxation of constraints for all Municipalities in the calculation of the last stage of equalization (2026-30) and will guarantee Rome a partial, but definitely permanent, distribution the benefits that the Capital will gain by applying the usual criteria from year to year.”
The bottom line is the cost of measurement. In the proposal put forward in Parliament, Roma’s lower contribution to vehicles is actually compensated by state intervention. And maintaining budget balances is one of the constraints that Budget changes must comply with. If this is not part of the Budget Law, this intervention could find room in other decisions, for example the Preliminary Decision which is currently being discussed in the DPR and the process is in line with the Budget Law. “Special assessments are underway,” Savino added. However, there are opportunities for the City Government. For example, entities could have greater flexibility in the use of budget surpluses and a two-euro increase in the tourist tax, which was also extended throughout 2026. In fact, the text of the budget law links the increase to the government’s obligation to allocate 30% of additional revenues to the national disability fund.
“There is clarification from the Accounting Department,” explained Savino. Municipalities will be free to “take action regarding specific issues to be identified.” Meanwhile, yesterday the Budget Commission stated that 105 of the 414 amendments reported were unacceptable. The Brothers of Italy’s proposal to reaffirm that gold held by the Bank of Italy “belongs to the Italian people” remains in effect. Strengthened transparency obligations for corporate shareholdings in pharmacies have also been passed. However, the League’s amendments regarding the Housing Plan and blocking a three-month increase in the retirement age from 2027 were excluded for coverage reasons. The FdI text to raise the income threshold giving access to tax relief on contract increases was also blocked. The league also had to accept the rejection of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) share sale and obtain 15 billion to cut taxes. However, the last word has not been spoken. Many fixes can be reformulated by changing the scope or replacing one of the more than 5,000 unreported scopes.
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