Manoeuvre, first votes in Commission Orsini: 'It is on the right track for an industrial plan for the country'

Voting on the amendments to the budget bill in the Senate Budget Committee began at 5.55pm. This was reported by Pd Senator Antonio Misiani. The Commission started with the vote on amendments, also reworded, on one of the common topics, local authorities.

There comes a new double squeeze on early pensions, those that allow to retire at the moment with 42 years and 10 months of contributions. The amendment tabled by the government increases the 'moving window' that one must wait before receiving a pension, which rises from 3 months now to 4 months in 2032 and then progressively to 5 months in the following year and 6 months from 2034. A second regulation, on the other hand, restricts the effects for those who have redeemed the short degree, the three-year degree. In fact, the redeemed months will be worth less: a cut of six months in the first year and then, 12 months in 2032, 18 months in 2033, 24 months for those who qualify in 2034 and 30 months for those who qualify in 2035.

A 1% withholding tax, net of VAT, when paying invoices for business-to-business (B2B) transactions will be introduced from 2029. This is provided for in a measure of the omnibus amendment submitted by the government to the Budget Bill in the Senate Budget Committee.

Excluded from this are flat-rate taxpayers, certain payments already subject to withholding (such as commissions for commission, agency, brokerage, sales representation and business procurement relations). Also excluded are taxpayers adhering to the collaborative compliance regime and the two-year arrangement with creditors. The latter are excluded due to 'the high level of tax reliability', the technical report states, as the measure has anti-avoidance purposes, both for the assessment gap (i.e. the omission of a declaration, which is obviously followed by the non-payment of the tax) and for the collection gap (non-payment of all or part of the tax settled in the declaration). The technical report quantifies the effects in a total of EUR 1,469 million from 2029 (EUR 584 million on IRPEF and EUR 885 million on IRES).

At 5.30 p.m. the Senate Budget Committee will begin the first votes on the amendments to the manoeuvre. The work will start on the proposed amendments on local authorities, one of the common topics between majority and opposition groups. This is what the leader of the League in the Senate, Massimiliano Romeo, said on leaving the committee.

"I apologise for the delay, but these days the timing of the budget law, as always, is never what was originally planned. A little because of the committees, a little and also because of the government, or aspects that force it to take time'. Thus the president of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, at the beginning of his speech at the conference on the 30th anniversary of the regional electoral law, in Palazzo Zuccari.

The deadline for submitting sub-amendments to the government's omnibus proposal in the Budget Committee is postponed from 12 noon to 6 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday 17 December. The request for more time had come from the oppositions.

Resources are coming in for the Housing Plan, the Employment Fund, and the Fund for the Continuation of Public Works. The government's amendment to the manoeuvre allocates 150 million in 2026 and 150 million in 2027 to the Ministry of Transport for the 'housing, urban and territorial policies' programme, another 150 million in 2026 and 150 million in 2027 to the Ministry of Labour for the 'passive labour policies and employment incentives' programme, and 800 million in 2026 and 400 million in 2027 to the Ministry of Economic Development for the 'state building and special interventions and public disasters' programme.

A government amendment to the manoeuvre intervenes on the regulation of the payment to the fund for the disbursement of severance pay to employees in the private sector: it aims to include among those required to pay the contribution employers who, in the years following the start-up of the business, reach the size threshold of 50 employees, who are currently excluded from the obligation, in effect broadening the range of potential employees who can join it. The fund, set up at the Inps, provides employees in the private sector with severance pay. Private sector employers with at least fifty employees are required to make monthly payments. The threshold is calculated for companies in activity on 31 December 2006 by taking as a reference the annual average of the workers in force in 2006, for those that started activity after 31 December 2006, the annual average of the workers in force in the calendar year of the start of activity is taken as a reference. The amendment now aims instead to include companies that have reached the size threshold by taking as a reference the annual average of workers in force in the previous calendar year.

Retirement benefits in advance of old age, for which at least 42 years and 10 months of contributions are currently required (one year less for women), take effect three months after the date on which the contribution requirements are accrued, if they are accrued by 31 December 2031, but the moving window increases from 2032. This is provided for in the Government's omnibus amendment to the Manoeuvre. The window rises to four months, if the requirements are accrued by 31 December 2033, to five months, if they are accrued by 31 December 2034, to six months, if they are accrued from 1 January 2035; in addition, there is the increase in the requirements linked to life expectancy, for which an extra month must be considered in 2027 and another two months in 2028.

New resources, amounting to EUR 532.64 million, for companies that have applied for the tax credit for the Zes unica. This is what the government's amendment to the manoeuvre envisages. For companies that have 'validly submitted the application to the Revenue Agency from 18 November 2025 to 2 December 2025', there is 'a contribution in the form of a tax credit, equal to 14.6189% of the amount of the tax credit applied for', provided that they have not obtained recognition. Given that the total amount of credits applied for 'is equal to €3,643,520,511', explains the Technical Report, the contribution 'is determined to the maximum extent of €532.64 million on the prudential assumption that all the amounts requested' meet the requirements. In order to receive the contribution, companies will have to submit from 15 April 2026 to 15 May 2026, 'exclusively in telematic mode, a communication to the Agenzia delle Entrate' in which they declare that they have not obtained recognition of the tax credit. The Agency, with a measure to be issued by 16 February 2026, will define 'the information elements to be indicated in the communication and the method of transmission. The amount of the recognised tax credit cannot in any case exceed the amount requested in the supplementary communication,' the article states.

In the Senate, the oppositions (Pd, M5s, Avs and Italia viva) are protesting against the government's latest amendment on companies because from the point of view of content it 'completely rewrites the manoeuvre' and because it has set a timeframe that they consider 'unacceptable' - by Wednesday 17 December at 12 noon - for submitting sub-amendments. "Now the picture changes. So we are asking for an extra 48 hours for the sub-amendments," said Stefano Patuanelli, head of the M5s group in the Senate and visibly altered, who added: "After that if there is an orderly work in committee, we will arrive in the chamber on 22 December and finish on the 23rd. But if there is another forcing like this...".

Tomorrow, Wednesday 17 December, at 12 noon, is the deadline for submitting to the Senate Budget Committee sub-amendments to the omnibus proposal filed by the government with the 'enterprise package' measures.

A fund will be established at the MEF with an allocation of EUR 1,300 million for 2026 to increase the

allocations of measures in favour of enterprises. These resources will in fact be allocated to Transition 4.0. This is one of the measures contained in the omnibus amendment presented by the government to the Budget Bill in the Senate Budget Committee. The eligible investments are those made before 31 December 2025.

"The government first failed to give answers to the country, then tried in a haphazard way to recover some micro-resources for the business system, and now it pretends that the oppositions are thanking and accepting any improvised forecasts in order to get to the budget adjustment quickly. This is an unacceptable attitude,' stressed M5S group leader Stefano Patuanelli at the end of the group's meeting in the Senate. 'There is a real risk of moving towards the provisional exercise,' he added. 'The oppositions' request is simple and reasonable: allow 48 hours for the submission of sub-amendments. This is the only way to guarantee an orderly work in the Commission and a correct procedure in the Chamber, with the start of the examination on the 22nd and the conclusion on the 23rd with the explanations of vote and the final vote'.

Speaking of his amendment, Minister for Relations with Parliament Luca Ciriani explained: 'It is necessary to cover the increased demands on Transition 5.0, hyper-depreciation, and applications for Zes that have arrived in the last few days, so it is all dedicated to companies. It's a big amendment, we realise that, but in our opinion there is plenty of time to do the work in committee and arrive in the Chamber on Monday and Tuesday'.

The examination of the budget law in the Senate chamber 'will begin on 22 December and will go on the following day for approval'. This was decided by the Senate's conference of group leaders, as reported by the Minister for Relations with Parliament, Luca Ciriani.

The percentages of 15.2538 per cent and 18.4805 per cent disclosed by the Inland Revenue Agency last year for investments in SEZs made by SMEs and large enterprises in the agricultural sector, respectively, will be recalculated at 58.7839 per cent and 58.6102 per cent. This is provided for in the omnibus amendment presented by the government in the Senate on the budget bill. The tax credit is also extended to 2026 with a maximum expenditure limit of EUR 50 million. Investments made from 1 January to 15 November 2026 will be eligible.

"Ugl's judgement on the manoeuvre is on the whole positive with respect to a system that has a significant social impact. The measures envisaged are aimed at supporting the middle classes and strengthening the purchasing power of workers, objectives that the union considers central in an economic phase characterised by numerous uncertainties linked to the instability of the international context. In this context, the allocation of an additional EUR 3.5 billion to cover the Budget Law is an important signal that goes in the right direction, in line with the demands of the social partners for measures to boost economic growth and employment," said Paolo Capone, secretary of the trade unions. This was stated by Paolo Capone, Secretary General of the UGL, speaking on the programme Re Start on Rai3, hosted by Annalisa Bruchi.

As of 1 July 2026, a mechanism for automatic membership of the complementary pension scheme, with the option to opt out within sixty days, will be triggered for first-time private sector employees. This is one of the complementary pension measures contained in the government's omnibus amendment to the budget bill that has arrived in the Senate. Also on the subject of supplementary pensions, the number of companies required to pay the severance pay to the Inps fund has been broadened to include employers who, in the years following the year in which they started their business (2007), reach the 50-employee threshold, which are currently excluded from the obligation, thus broadening the number of potential employees who can join.

The government's omnibus amendment tabled to the budget bill in the Senate Budget Committee provides for an increase in resources in 2033 for the bridge over the Strait of Messina "in the light - reads the technical report - of the updating of the administrative procedure and the non-perfection of commitments relating to the sums budgeted in the year 2025 in the residual account from the year 2024". The increase, the technical report also certifies, is 'such as to leave the overall value of the authorised sums unchanged'. The amendment envisages an increase of 780 million in the estimates of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

Increased revenue of 1.3 billion with an advance payment mechanism for insurance companies. This is provided for in the government's maxi-amendment covering the changes to the manoeuvre. The amendment modifies the Private Insurance Code by introducing a mechanism for the payment, by 16 November each year, of an advance payment equal to 85% of the contribution on vehicle and watercraft insurance premiums. The technical report attached to the amendment specifies that the advance paid in a given year may be deducted, as of the following February, from the payments to be made in the following year. An additional revenue of approximately EUR 1.3 billion is estimated for 2026 alone, since the payments provided for under current legislation will be concentrated, in addition to the advance payment provided for by the new rule. From 2027, the new mechanism would be fully operational without generating additional revenue.

"When they presented this manoeuvre, we went to see the trend in public spending over the years of the Meloni government. What is going down? Spending on public health, on public schools, on housing, on industrial policy, despite the drop in industrial production for 34 almost consecutive months. What goes up? Only military spending because they have accepted, head down, a request from US President Trump, unrealistic and wrong, to raise military spending to 5% of GDP'. Thus the secretary of the PD, Elly Schlein, on the sidelines of a press conference at the Nazareno. "They should have done as Sanchez's Spain did and said no to Trump" because "guaranteeing Nato capacity targets" is "unrealistic and wrong" and "because with that commitment we risk putting an end to the Italian welfare state as we have known it".

Further reading

Nato, Secretary General Rutte's warning: 'Russia may attack within five years'

12 December 2025

The hyper- and super-amortisation provided for by the manoeuvre for companies investing in capital goods becomes three years. This is provided for in the government's amendment to the manoeuvre, which extends until '30 September 2028' (the manoeuvre now sets the deadline at 31 December 2026, or 30 June 2027) the benefits concerning investments in new tangible and intangible capital goods functional to the technological or digital transformation in the Transition 4.0 and 5.0 key, intended for production facilities located in the territory of the State. The amendment also eliminates "the further increase in the cost of acquisition for 'green' investments" and conditions "the entitlement to the incentive to the circumstance that the investments are in 'Made in EU' goods".

The government amendment to the manoeuvre with measures for 3.5 billion announced yesterday by Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti has arrived. The amendment contains various interventions, from the ZES and Transition for Enterprises, to the automatic adhesion to supplementary pensions, to the appropriations for the bridge over the Strait of Messina. An article is also introduced with provisions on the remodulation of the NRP.

The Bankitalia gold amendment announced by Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti was filed last night. The Senate Budget Committee will meet again today 'late in the morning', according to the body's chairman Nicola Calandrini (FdI).