The head of government feels the resistance of the partners strongly. In order to adopt the budget by the end of the year, she must therefore ask a vote of confidence.
Giorgia Meloni hopes for some Christmas rest. Because there are turbulent pre-holidays in Rome. The Italian prime minister has been in office for less than a hundred days, and already her main focus is keeping internal rebellions in check. And so the right-wing politician has to pull the emergency card on the most important project since she took office: In order to pass the budget for 2023 this year, she will ask the vote of confidence – despite a broad parliamentary majority. In this way, she hopes to push the package through, at least in the Chamber of Deputies, by Christmas.
Time is of the essence: if the budget is not passed by the end of the year, spending will come into effect in the middle of the economic crisis. The Council of Ministers had already given the budget draft the green light a month ago. In it, the government is asking for financial incentives to boost consumption and cushion the consequences of the crisis, without exhausting the spending limits set by Brussels too much. Accordingly, Italy’s budget deficit is expected to rise to 4.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), up from 3.4 percent in September.