Almost 80 million euros less for the Municipalities of Tuscany in five years (to be precise, around 15.8 million euros per year). The equation is directly proportional: the more funds local authorities have received from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr), the greater the shortfall will be. Look at the map of Tuscany: the darker the shade, the greater the reduction. The figures were found by the regional secretary and dem deputy Emiliano Fossi who comments: «This is the electoral “gift” that Giorgia Meloni and her Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, have foreseen for our Region».
The spending review
It had been known for some time that the municipalities had to undergo a “slimming cure”, but many hoped to weather the storm unscathed. But no, the measure will reach everyone. And the ax will fall on them in the form of an inter-ministerial decree which outlines the criteria for the savings program to be paid by the Municipalities. In practice, it establishes that half of the cuts will concern current spending, therefore the ordinary activities of the institutions, while the other half will be calculated in proportion to the European funds allocated with the Pnrr.
The “election pause”
And it’s only a matter of time. The decree on spending review of local authorities, linked to Pnrr funds, has in fact been suspended. The Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, did not include discussion of the decree in the official agenda, preventing it from being examined at the next meeting of the State-City conference. The failure to include it on the agenda thus avoided the start of the 20-day countdown which would have allowed the government to approve the decree without the agreement with the local authorities. The issue, however, is only postponed, obviously until after the polls. Clearly the ministerial decree, which implements the indications of the 2024 budget law, has been blocked and will only be published after the vote on 8 and 9 June – PD secretary Fossi adds – but the figures have already been established and with criteria shocking measures that penalize the virtuous Municipalities that have managed to spend the resources of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan well and within the established timeframes. The result will be a disaster for citizens and businesses.”
Services alarm
The Municipalities are already putting up the barricades because the ones who will suffer, if there are to be cuts, will be the social services and consequently the citizens. «For the works carried out with the Pnrr, such as kindergartens, there will be a lack of resources for staff, services will therefore be reduced and to make ends meet it will be necessary to raise taxes – underlines the Tuscan secretary of the dem – We are faced with the ‘yet another disaster for the right-wing government.’ Also Matteo Biffoni, mayor of Prato and president of Anci Toscana, the National Association of Italian Municipalities, is saddened. «It is a further scandal on the part of the government which once again hits the citizens in a senseless and unmotivated way – explains the Tuscan president of the ANCI – The cuts affect current spending and paradoxically penalize those who have been better: those who have built more kindergartens nursery school, will have opened more family homes, will have purchased more electric buses or will have built more public parks: all investments which, in order to function, will naturally require the Municipalities to spend more current expenditure, for example, for maintenance and for the hiring of educators to be used in nursery schools. If the money is not found, services will have to be cut at least to save what can be saved.”
The national protest
National Anci, together withUnion of Italian Provinces (Upi), had also sent a letter to the ministers concerned, reporting that «an interpretation of the budget rules is prevailing which seems absurd to us, contradictory to the spirit and aims of the Pnrr and above all full of very serious consequences for the management of the works public events long awaited by citizens. The desire to discourage the full success of the objectives of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan returns, at least for the part under the jurisdiction of the mayors.”
At a national level, the cut expected for local authorities is around 200 million euros this year, the first tranche of the total of one billion until 2028; in our region the share is important: almost 80 million in five years, to be precise 78,829,995 euros. «We invite the government to think again before it is too late – concludes Biffoni – It would be a mockery for the citizens if, after having completed the public works expected for years, the Municipalities were forced to abandon them because they were unable to manage them».
