Incentives, Transition 4.0 resources also exhausted
The entire ceiling of 2.2 billion has been absorbed: measure closed. In the meantime, after the stop, the queue for 5.0 subsidies grows to 650 million: the government is hunting for new resources to correct the shot
by Carmine Fotina
Key points
The funds for the Transition 4.0 plan incentives have also been exhausted. After the cut-off that displaced companies interested in Transition 5.0 tax credits, the GSE (Gestore dei Servizi Energetici - Energy Services Manager) counter at 5 p.m. on Tuesday 11 November yesterday effectively decreed the stop of the old measure that could count on a total of EUR 2.2 billion in national resources for 2025. The Transizione 4.0 plan is based on investment incentives for the purchase or leasing of capital goods functional to digital innovation processes and differs from the later Transizione 5.0, which is instead fuelled by European resources from the NRP and also envisages energy-saving objectives to be achieved with innovation projects.
The Transition 5.0 situation
We therefore arrive at the end of the year with a very critical picture for business investment planning. As far asTransition 5.0 is concerned, on 7 November MIMIT announced the exhaustion of the 2.5 billion plafond that had been agreed with the European Commission, defunding the initial 6.23 billion dowry for the remainder and allocating it to other interventions. In this back-and-forth between national and European resources, together with other remodifications of the NRP, funds amounting to EUR 4 billion were freed up in the draft budget law, which will finance a new version of Transition 5.0, for investments to be realised in 2026 and facilitated no longer with tax credits but with hyper-amortisation.
Fears of companies
The operation has, however, sowed panic among many companies that thought they would be able to access the old version of Transition 5.0 without resource problems until the end of 2025. Mimit reiterates that the portal for bookings will in any case remain open until 31 December, and that projects that are considered eligible will end up on a 'waiting list', to be rescued in the event of renunciations or if new resources are identified. The Gse platform, after a brief technical suspension, is back in operation and, calculating the bookings made since 7 November, has reached EUR 3.15 billion. At the moment, therefore, there is a surplus of 650 million. On 10 November alone, 742 projects with a total value of 231.1 million were uploaded onto the platform. Even for Transition 4.0, Mimit emphasises that there has been an acceleration in the last few days, and reminds that it is still possible to continue sending bookings: in the event of new availability, the Gse will notify the companies according to the chronological order of applications.
The discussion between the government and business associations
As for the 5.0 plan, next week will see the start of discussions between the government and the business associations, which have harshly criticised the sudden decision to close the taps. A meeting at Mimit is scheduled for 18 November and it is possible that a solution will be found by then. The option of granting companies in the queue some sort of priority for access to the hyper-amortisation that will come into force in 2026 is quite complicated, given the difference between the tax relief instrument and tax credits and also the different requirements for projects. One way is to find additional resources, in practice backing off from the initial defunding. But much will depend on what the final requirement will be, i.e. on how many of the projects uploaded as of 7 November will be considered fully eligible.
