From 2026, police and carabinieri rescues may be chargeable

Rescue operations that from next year will be carried out by the Police and Carabinieri will also be 'reimbursed' if they turn out not to be 'justified', i.e. if the shadow of wilful misconduct or gross negligence on the part of the person rescued is found behind them. This is what is envisaged by an amendment to the manoeuvre, reformulated by the government and awaiting a vote in the Senate Budget Committee. In essence, the tightening already envisaged by the text that came out of the Council of Ministers on 17 October and was presented in the Senate, and limited at first to the men and vehicles of the Guardia di Finanza, is now extended with this proposed amendment to the interventions promoted by the other two corps.

From 2026, the request for help made to the State Police and Carabinieri, engaged in mountain and sea rescue, will have to be justified and motivated. And if there is no adequate and real justification, search, rescue and rescue in the mountains or at sea will all become paid operations. Not only that. The contribution introduced by the new Budget Law, currently being examined by the Senate at first reading, will also be payable by those who procure, through wilful misconduct or gross negligence, an accident or an event requiring the use of men and means belonging to the State Police and the Carabinieri.

The text of the amendment clarifies that 'the fees due shall be established by decrees adopted by the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Defence, respectively, in agreement with the Minister of Economy and Finance'.

Finally, the amendment clarifies that 'the fee is due if the event for which the intervention was carried out is attributable to intent or gross negligence on the part of the agent'.