Fuel decree gets the green light from the Chamber of Deputies: the bill now goes to the Senate
In the Finance Committee at the Chamber of Deputies, a government amendment has combined three measures
Key points
Three measures approved by the Chamber of Deputies in one go. The Chamber of Deputies has given the green light to the bill that combines the decree-law from late July with the two from August: 162 votes in favour, 108 against and 5 abstentions. It will now go to the Senate for conversion into law, which must be completed by 27 September.
The (few) new features
The text is virtually identical to that of the three measures. At the plenary session, incidentally, no amendments were approved. The only amendments had been tabled earlier, in the Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. With regard to the repayment of public funds by the receivership bodies of the Ilva Group and the Acciaierie d’Italia Group under special administration, it is stipulated that such repayment must take place ‘as a preferential claim’ and ‘with priority over any other claim in the respective special administration proceedings’.
Specifically, the provision stipulates that the repayment of public funds to the State takes precedence ‘over any other claim arising from the proceedings themselves, whether pre-deductible or under insolvency proceedings, including those secured by a pledge, mortgage or other legitimate ground for priority’, thus expressly derogating from the ordinary rules governing pre-deductible claims set out in the Code on Corporate Crisis and Insolvency.
The only exception is made for employment-related claims, which will therefore continue to be settled before public funds are repaid to the State. Furthermore, the exemption from criminal, administrative and civil liability for conduct by the commissioners in implementing the Environmental Plan is confirmed. The latest development concerning the former Ilva concerns the Integrated Environmental Authorisation (AIA): it is established, in fact, that plants declared to be of national strategic interest “are subject to the AIA at national level” and, therefore, not at regional level.
Advance tax payments by energy companies
To help cover the cost of the excise duty cut, the Government is calling on the major energy companies to cooperate. This is not a tax on windfall profits, but a 39 per cent advance tax on the profits of companies with revenues exceeding 20 billion, the distribution of which has been approved for the 2025 financial year.
