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COST OF LIVING

Energy crisis: Italy’s outgoing PM pledges more help with soaring prices

Italy's government agreed a new 14-billion-euro package of measures on Friday to ease the pressure of energy bills on businesses and households, before elections.

Published: 16 September 2022 18:23 CEST
Energy crisis: Italy's outgoing PM pledges more help with soaring prices
Italy's Prime Minister, Mario Draghi announced new measures intended to offset the rising cost of living at a press conference following a cabinet meeting at Palazzo Chigi in Rome. (File photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP)

The new aid bill was approved on top of 52 billion euros already allocated “that puts us among the countries that have spent the most in Europe,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

READ ALSO: How much are energy bills rising in Italy?

Measures to come under the government’s decreto aiuti ter, or ‘third aid decree’, include the extension of a tax credit for companies to the end of 2022, and a state guarantee for those that take out loans to bridge any liquidity issues caused by rising bills.

Ministers also agreed a 150-euro cost of living ‘bonus’ for those with an annual income of less than 20,000 euros before tax, including pensioners, which will apply to around 22 million people.

There are also funds for the health and agricultural sectors, sport, education, cinemas and theatres, and public transport.

The 12-month inflation rate in Italy rose again in August to 8.4 percent, a new record since 1985, according to figures published Friday by Istat, the national statistics agency.

The spiralling cost of living has been a major issue in the campaign for elections, which opinion polls suggest will hand an easy victory to the right-wing coalition led by far-right leader Giorgia Meloni.

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POLITICS

Italian PM Meloni’s ally gets EU Commission vice president job

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday named Raffaele Fitto, a member of PM Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, executive vice president in the next European Commission, sparking concern among centre-left lawmakers.

Published: 17 September 2024 11:34 CEST
Italian PM Meloni's ally gets EU Commission vice president job

Fitto, 55, will be in charge of “cohesion and reforms” and become one of von der Leyen’s key lieutenants in the European Union’s executive body, despite concerns from EU lawmakers on the left and in the centre.

“He will be responsible for the portfolio dealing with cohesion policy, regional development and cities,” von der Leyen told a press conference.

Writing on X, Meloni called the choice of Fitto, a member of her Brothers of Italy party, “an important recognition that confirms the newfound central role of our nation in the EU”.

“Italy is finally back as a protagonist in Europe,” she added.

Currently Italy’s European affairs minister, Fitto knows Brussels well and is widely regarded as one of the more moderate faces of Meloni’s government.

But as a member of her party, which once called for Rome to leave the eurozone, his potential appointment to such a powerful post had sparked alarm ahead of von der Leyen’s official announcement.

Centrist French MEP Valerie Hayer described it as “untenable” and Fitto is likely to face a stormy confirmation hearing before the European Parliament.

“Italy is a very important country and one of our founding members, and this has to reflect in the choice,” von der Leyen said of his nomination.

READ ALSO: EU chief to hand economy vice-president job to Italian PM Meloni’s party

Fitto was elected three times to the European Parliament before joining Meloni’s administration in 2022, when was charged with managing Italy’s share of the EU’s vast post-Covid recovery plan.

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