From cuts to ministries to the spending deferrals of the Pnrr: the measures (that count) left in the shadow of the maneuver

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Mario Sensini and Claudia Voltattorni

Many issues of the budget law have remained in the shadows: cuts to ministries, the revision of the Pnrr has an accounting effect, new funding for reconstruction

The 2026 budget contains many important measures that have been little talked about. The debate was catalyzed by Irpef, scrapping, pensions, the squeeze on banks, Bank of Italy’s gold and measures in favor of employment. Many issues have remained in the shadowsdespite having great relevance. Only Giorgetti spoke about cuts to ministries, the first real cuts outside of the spending review, with his ministers in the rooms of Palazzo Chigi. The revision of the Pnrr has an accounting effect, which has been of great help. But the new funding for reconstructions and, in the end, also the hundreds of micro interventions desired by parliamentarians are also important for the territories.

Over 10 billion have been cut from ministerial budgets

Minister Giorgetti had warned his colleagues and the cuts to the ministries, in addition to the classic ones of the spending review, also arrived in the 2026 budget. And they had never been so heavy.
In the next three years, 10.4 billion euros of planned and financed expenses will disappear: 7.2 billion will be postponed to the next three years, after the end of the legislature, another 3.2 will be definitively cancelled. The ministry most affected is precisely that of Infrastructure led by Matteo Salvini: via one billion and 200 million euros, which affects subways, roads and ports, but with the last squeeze also the Messina Bridge.
What was hit by the scissors of the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, who looked no one in the face, were the passive residues, i.e. the sums allocated in the past and not spent by individual ministries. Everyone had their reasons, but for Giorgetti they are still unproductive funds, and they return home, falling within the budget’s availability. To pay the price, in addition to Salvini, they were the ministries that had the worst spending performances. These include Health, Justice, the Environment, Tourism, Education and Culture. The ministers’ insistence to recover was of little avail.

Equity investments and dividends, collection reduced from 735 to just 36 million

It was supposed to bring 735 million into the treasury coffers in 2026, but after bitter political battles and compromise in the majority its revenue next year is reduced to just 36 million. The tax crackdown on dividends from investee companies was supposed to be one of the main revenue components of the measure, but it was reduced to an almost symbolic measure.
The government’s initial text envisaged: severely limit the substantial tax exemption regime for dividends received from investee companies. Today, taxes are paid only on 95% of dividends received from companies with a stake of more than 5% of the capital, and the proposal envisaged raising this ceiling for shareholdings exceeding 10%, cutting many companies and entrepreneurs subject to Irpef out of the subsidized regime.
In the end, the compromise reached is very distant from the initial hypotheses, as is the guaranteed revenue. The preferential taxation will in fact remain on all shareholdings exceeding 5%, but is in fact extended, because the new regime will apply to all shareholdings with a value exceeding 500 thousand euros, regardless of the share of capital held in the company.

5 million at La Scala, 500 thousand euros at Maxxi

In addition to the most important (and expensive) measures, the Budget Law contains – as always – dozens of micro-measures with funds earmarked for ministries who will then have to assign them with implementing decrees. This is a package of around 211 million for, among other things, cities, foundations, bodies, associations or even parishes and churches for restoration work. There are, for example, 5 million for the 250th anniversary of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and 1 million for Matera, Mediterranean Capital of Culture. Two million and 700 thousand euros for the Misericordie d’Italia and 2 million for the Fund for the psychological well-being of workers in companies and university students. There are 500 thousand euros in 2026 and 1 million in 2027 for the new fund of the Ministry of Agriculture for cage-free farms. One million goes to the care of animals involved in fighting and 100 thousand euros to the research and development of the Defense Industries Agency. 500 thousand euros arrive at the Maxxi Museum in Rome for new projects; 30 thousand to the Vie e Cammini di San Francesco Association. One million is for the Capannelle racecourse and 450 thousand for the Bolsena lakeside. And 100 thousand euros for two years will go to the Mantuan non-profit organization Gattorandagio.

Cryptocurrencies, taxes at 33% and the exemption disappears

Taxes on capital gains generated by the sale of cryptocurrencies will increase in 2026. Not for all, because they will remain unchanged for digital currencies pegged to the euro, and to a fairly limited extent. What is certain is that it could have been much worse. The Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, had proposed in the initial text of the Budget Law a very substantial increase, from the current 26%, with a deductible of 2 thousand eurosat 42% without any deductible. «A decision that reflects the logic of rewarding patient and long-term investors» said the minister. In fact, a different taxation is introduced between cryptocurrencies and other financial assets, whose capital gains are all taxed at 26% (except for government bonds, at 12.5%).
In Parliament the majority formed a united front and managed to loosen the grip. In 2026, capital gains on cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum will be taxed at 33% and the 2,000 euro exemption will disappear. However, taxes on stablecoins anchored to the euro will remain at 26%. Today EUROe, EURT, DEURO and VEUR have a certain market, but banks are gearing up to issue their own currency.

Earthquake: direct contributions instead of 110%

Extraordinary Commissioner Guido Castelli, senator of FdI, confesses that he hasn’t slept at night for days. The solution for the post-2016 earthquake reconstruction funds arrived only together with the Government’s latest major amendment. From ’26 there will no longer be 110% deductions to guarantee the funds to complete the works, but a direct contribution from the Commissioner. The principle applies to all earthquakes since 2009 here, then Abruzzo, Ischia, Emilia, Molise, Catania and Central Italy.
The Commissioner breathed a sigh of relief, but also thousands of families who risked leaving their homes in the middle of Central Italy, at least 10 thousand, with 1.3 billion euros at risk.
They were counting on the 110% deductions to cover the part of the expenditure not guaranteed by the public contribution, but they would have had to complete the work by the end of the year. Previously Castelli had asked for an extension of 110% to ’26, denied by the Mef, which no longer wants to hear about itinvoice discounts and credit transfer. Then the direct financing solution was chosen. The allocation of 1.3 billion was spread over ten years, and for ’26 there are 250 million euros more on Castelli’s endowments, who is very satisfied with the agreement reached.

7 billion recovered from Pnrr spending deferrals

The ace in the hole, which allowed the Government to close the game of the maneuver, although no one gave it much weight, is the Pnrr. The remodulation of spending, which will slide beyond 2026 thanks to some financial vehicles agreed with the EU Commission, has made it possible to regain the three-year budget just over 7 billion euros, 5.9 of which in the next year alone. It is, thus, one of the main sources of financing for the budget law, which rebalances and compensates for the growth in expenses.
The operation was made possible by the sixth revision of the Pnrr, which Brussels accepted in mid-November, but was immediately included in the text of the law. The review, with the shift of spending beyond ’26, allowed the reallocation to the budget of the funds allocated in the past to finance projects that were thought to be completed next year. It will also have important effects on the ’27 budget, to which the revision brings in a billion euros.
Another nice contribution to the maneuver is the transfer of 2.5 billion (1.5 in ’26) from the Development and Cohesion Fund to the budget. In this case it concerns residues, sums allocated and not spent, of the Mef itself.