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Meloni: 'Superbonus prevents us from leaving the procedure'. Giorgetti: 'If necessary we will move on our own'

Economy Minister Giorgetti: 'I would not exclude that Italia moves on the deviation by itself'

by Rome Editorial Staff

22 April 2026

6' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

6' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The Council of Ministers approved the Public Finance Document 2026. In the Document the government revised both the 2026 and the 2027 GDP from +0.7% to +0.6%. Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said this during the press conference following the Council of Ministers. "Will we move on our own? I would not rule it out," Giorgetti replied to those who asked him whether, in the event of Europe's failure to intervene, Italia could go it alone on the variance. 'But,' he added, 'since talking with my colleagues many of them find themselves like me as a doctor in the field hospital, many of us share the same way of looking at the situation: we have wounded people arriving from all sides that we have to treat. We cannot give them aspirin.

Meloni, Superbonus prevents us from exiting EU procedure, anger

"It is infuriating" that "we would still have been below the 3% deficit if, even in 2025, the outlay of billions of euro for the superbonus had not burdened the state coffers. The wretched measure of the Conte II left-wing government, at the moment, prevents Italy from exiting the infringement procedure, taking away the government's spending margin to be allocated to public health, schools, and support for lower incomes'. This is what Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media.

"For years first Istat GDP data underestimated and then revised, a hoax"

The Prime Minister emphasised that "to achieve the goal" of exiting the EU infringement procedure for excessive deficit "just 20 billion GDP more than the 2.258 billion GDP for 2025 currently estimated by Istat would be sufficient. The paradox is that, for many years now, the first Istat data underestimate the actual GDP, only to revise it upwards. In all likelihood, this will also happen for 2025, proving to be a mockery for Italia and the Italians'. "With regard to deficit reduction, the government has achieved an outcome considered by many to be unattainable. In 2022, when the current government took office, we found a deficit/GDP ratio of 8.1 per cent; today we have brought it down to 3.1 per cent. A figure not only 5 percentage points lower than when we took office, but also better than the government's own forecasts, which stopped at 3.3 per cent for 2025. The regret remains,' he concludes, 'for having narrowly missed the 3% threshold, which would have allowed us to get out of the European infringement procedure a year earlier, which would have meant greater spending capacity for the state

For any deviation there is price priority

"As far as the deviation is concerned, there is a priority and it has to be evaluated in order to be as productive as possible: if I want to prevent prices in the supermarket from rising, I have to prevent someone from passing on the higher transport costs to the retail sector, we have already discussed this in informal terms between ministerial colleagues last week, there is a proposal that I, my Spanish and German colleagues have signed up to for an exceptional tax on the big oil and energy companies to finance these interventions, I don't think it has been well received, certainly those who work as doctors in the field hospital have different problems from the General Staff," said the Economy Minister.

From Europe I ask for flexibility, responding promptly to challenges

"I did not ask for a derogation from the Stability Pact: I asked that we be flexible. I asked that we be ready and flexible to respond to situations, not relaxed. What is wrong is rigidity with respect to approaching a world that has completely changed. This does not stand,' urged Giorgetti. 'We are faced with a world that has set us challenges that demand prompt responses,' he added.

Exceptional circumstances

"We do not see normal circumstances but totally exceptional ones, and therefore the forecasts, validated by the UPB, are already questionable today and already deserve adjustments in the coming weeks," said Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti at a press conference at Palazzo Chigi at the end of the cabinet meeting that examined the Dfp, explaining that "we have adjusted the GDP for 2026 from 0.7% to 0.6%".

Deficit at 3.1%? Penalty is when the referee blows the whistle

'As Boskov said penalty is when the referee blows the whistle. You can agree or disagree but these are the rules of the game,' Giorgetti commented, responding to a question about Eurostat's decision on the 2025 defciit. 'I was very interested in the deficit exit until 28 February 2026 after that absolutely less,' he added.

deficit rises, from 2.8 per cent to 2.9 per cent in 2026

Net borrowing for the next three years rises in the new forecasts contained in the public finance document, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti explained. The deficit 'in 2026 rises from 2.8 per cent to 2.9 per cent, in 2027 from 2.6 per cent to 2.8 per cent, in 2028 from 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent'.

Estimates to be updated

"We are not in normal circumstances, but of a totally exceptional kind, so the forecasts contained in the document and validated by the UPB are inevitably already questionable today and in the coming weeks worthy of further study, adjustments and updates," Giorgetti further pointed out.

Political decisions on defence expenditure waiver coming soon

"It seems clear to me that this picture, which is a snapshot of reality, deserves to be examined in depth very shortly with political decisions on what is the possibility, already allowed, of a derogation on defence spending, and I would add, inevitably because of the exceptional situation, the energy shock that the war in the Middle East is generating at a global, European and Italia level deserves just as much attention," said the minister.

Without superbonus public debt would have decreased

"The figures are still affected by the Superbonus weighing us 40 billion in 2026 and then there will be the tail end of 20 billion in 2027, without these numbers the trend would have been downward". This was said by Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti at a press conference on the Dfp, pointing out that in the document the debt/GDP is forecast at 138.6 per cent in 2026, 138.5 per cent in 2027 and 137.9 per cent in 2028.

On Freni total confidence. Appointments at Consob and Antitrust as soon as possible

'You don't have to ask me for my judgement on Freni, he is my undersecretary, I have total confidence in him and I believe he is absolutely great and competent,' said Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti. "The hope is that it will be done as soon as possible because it is right to give certainty to the system," the minister added.

on extension of excise cut assessment next week

"The excise tax cut expires on 1 May. Obviously next week we will evaluate the order of priorities,' Giorgetti said, responding to a question on a possible extension of the fuel excise cut during the press conference following the Council of Ministers.

I thank Di Foggia for waiving severance pay

The case of Giuseppina Di Foggia, Terna's outgoing managing director, 'has come to a positive conclusion,' the minister emphasised. "I thank Di Foggia for having renounced severance, an act of absolute fairness," explained Giorgetti. "I thank all the managers who will renounce, and I will respect those who will not. As for my thoughts, they are in the directive of 1 May 2023, which I can only reiterate from the first to the last syllable'.

Absolute priority fuels, starting with road transport

"The top priority as far as the economy is concerned, in my opinion, is to buffer the situation of the increase in fuel charges for hauliers in particular, because this is one of the main factors of inflationary pressure on consumer items, more or less objective and more or less speculative," the minister said. "We must try in some way to define and limit opportunistic behaviour, and to do this we must move. I know that the categories are on the warpath and I believe that this is the top priority right now,' he added.

A monetary squeeze would trigger a vicious circle

'I met the rating agencies in Washington and I meet them periodically, they know the situation perfectly well and they are perfectly aware of what is happening on growth' at the international level. Minister Giorgetti explained this, speaking of a 'calm and serene discussion on public finance'. "What is happening does not ease the outlook" and "a monetary squeeze would trigger a vicious circle to the detriment of businesses, households and sovereign states".

Unicredit-Commerzbank, a project I look forward to

'We respect Unicredit's project, which is ambitious. I look at it favourably, in my opinion it has important economic rationales,' Giorgetti said. "After that, before thinking about moving the headquarters to Germany, which of course would not see us in favour, it seems to me that one of the objects of contention is whether the headquarters moves to Frankfurt in Bavaria, which is an all-German problem," he added.