The Budget Bill: what is the budget deviation and what are the positions within the majority?
Provision has been made for the possibility of temporarily deviating from the public finance targets by resorting to increased borrowing
“We need ‘at least 20 billion. I myself, for the Ministry of Infrastructure, would need at least 6 or 7 billion just to offset the rise in prices compared with the contracts I have awarded. In September, I risk seeing several major construction sites come to a standstill’. These words, spoken by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport Matteo Salvini on the sidelines of the Rimini Meeting, have brought the government’s intention to resort to a budget deviation back to the forefront of public debate. According to Salvini, in fact, ahead of the forthcoming budget, ‘a budget deviation will also have to be put on the table. I intend to propose it in the coming days’. The minister also clarified that ‘Brussels’ approval is not required’, but rather ‘a national decision’.
The budget deviation: what is it?
A budgetary deviation allows for the possibility of temporarily deviating from the public finance targets set out in the budget by taking on additional debt. By adopting this measure, which is used in times of particular need, an increase in the public deficit beyond that provided for in the approved budget is effectively authorised.
The deviation therefore creates scope for economic policy measures using the deficit as a lever and, precisely for this reason – given that it entails an increase in debt and often a departure from the medium-term deficit reduction targets set by the EU Stability Pact – parliamentary authorisation is required in order to implement such measures.
The government’s project
In early August 2026, during his address to the Chamber of Deputies on the launch of the procedure to activate the National Emergency Clause (NEC), the Minister for the Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, announced that the European Commission would assess ‘by the end of September’ the request to activate the NEC, ‘possibly recommending its approval to the Council, which is expected to formalise the recommendation at the October Ecofin meeting. Following this recommendation, the procedure will be initiated’, which will then lead to the budgetary deviation.
The minister went on to explain that the measure to be put before Parliament ‘in September–October will be set out in precise terms, both in terms of quantities and timing, because much of it is linked to the exit from the excessive deficit procedure, which will only be finalised towards the end of September’.
