The 2024 budget bill must be taken in
conjunction with the measures contained in Italy's EU-funded
national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP), which includes
additional resources for businesses, Economy Minister Giancarlo
Giorgetti said on Tuesday.
"I would like to remind those who claim that this bill has
neglected businesses that the budget must be read alongside the
NRRP, and that additional resources for businesses will be
available following the European Commission's approval of the
proposed revision of the aforementioned plan integrated with
REPowerEU," Giorgetti told a joint session of the Lower House
and Senate budget committees.
On Monday Confindustria President Carlo Bonomi reiterated
criticism that the budget proposal is lacking support for
competition and growth.
REPowerEU is an EU programme to promote measures to save energy,
produce clean energy and diversify energy supplies to reduce
dependency
on Russian fossil fuel and member states have been asked to
submit additional chapters on this in their NRRP.
However, "the budget introduces a stimulus plan for
infrastructural and productive investments, focused in
particular on areas with sub-optimal levels of investment",
added Giorgetti.
The economy minister acknowledged that the package is "austere"
but said that it is also "expansive as necessary".
"There is austerity with respect to the ministries, of course,"
he told the joint budget committees referring to the required
spending review.
"However, it is expansive with respect to (people with) low and
middle incomes, because we believe that the loss of purchasing
power had to be compensated in some way," he added.
On health, Giorgetti said that "funding of the standard national
health requirement, which is the responsibility of the State, is
set to increase by 3 billion in 2024, 4 billion in 2025 and 4.2
billion annually from 2026", meaning that "the resources
available to the health service will therefore continue to grow
over time".
The minister also reiterated that reducing hospital waiting
lists remains a government "priority".
It is, he said, a problem that "has plagued our system for many
years and worsened significantly" during the Covid 19 pandemic,
leading to "an unprecedented backlog in services".
Giorgetti also said the government is considering how to respond
to doctors protesting over pension cuts.
"Obviously it is an issue that we need to address," he said.
Medical unions ANAAO ASSOMED and CIMO-FESMED have called a
24-hour strike throughout the country on December 5 in
opposition to the budget provisions, which they claim amount to
"a cut in the pension allowance of at least
50,000 people, amounting to up to 26,347 euro per year for
life".
"If, with this budget, the government intends to push doctors
further away from the national health service, we will gladly
lend them a hand," said ANAAO ASSOMED Secretary Pierino Di
Silverio and CIMO-FESMED President Guido Quici.
"And when patients who go to hospital find even fewer
professionals to treat them, they will know who to blame," they
added.
Former health minister Roberto Speranza of the centre-left
opposition Democratic Party (PD) has also criticised the
proposed "recalculation mechanism leading to a significant
reduction in doctors' pensions".
"From heroes of the pandemic to pension snatching: it is a real
disgrace that must be remedied as soon as possible," he added.
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