What broke the bank and the decimals were indeed the 600 million extra spending that appeared in the DFP, but above all “the unexpected increase in spending for the Superbonus”, explained Giorgetti. The president of Istat will be heard in Parliament on Tuesday
In these hours in the government the Accounting Office and Istat they are told as the outposts symbolizing all evil. Scratch scratch it is the usual asymmetry between politics and technicians. Even if this time the case is sensational. It’s their fault, they say from the majority and the executive, if Italy has not left the yoke of the European procedure. If that 3.04 estimated last October eventually became a 3.07 and therefore 3.1 (rounded) in the Dfp.
The mess, on the other hand, was one of those that leaves burns on the skin: years of tightening belts to bring down the deficit which started from 8%, bombastic announcements on the eve shaded by a handful of second decimal places. Equal, all things considered, to 598 million euros in excess spending, do not think as you should.
At Istat Giorgia Meloni and Brothers of Italy they scold one «rigidity that will make Italians poorer». It would have been enough to estimate – this is the thesis, and should be taken as such – 20 billion euros more in GDP than the 2,258 in 2025 to score goals. Instead, and here is Via della Scrofa’s afterthought, «eventually the figure will be revised upwardsas always, but it will now be too late».
Now, the president of Istat is Francesco Maria Chelliappointed by this government in 2024. Is it possible that he really plotted against Italy to prank the executive that chose him, perhaps moved by who knows what forces of reaction? From the Institute of Statistics, after a long breath, they shake their heads: they don’t get into this fracas. Tuesday Chelli will be audited by the Budget Committees of the House and Senate. He will speak with the official documents. His “embarrassment” in the face of these accusations goes hand in hand with the silence of an organization that collaborates with the main international statistical platforms, starting with Eurostat. If the numbers are hard headed and the president is not a saboteur, the spotlight of the majority’s suspicion falls on the “big body” ofIstat on the usual structures that work against it: Cossacks with calculators in their pockets?
However, the alleged rigidity of the Institute in this story is accompanied by the surprises that emerged from the Accounting Department, perhaps without the knowledge (here’s the conspiracy again) of Daria Perrottathe first woman to head the prestigious department, also nominated by Meloni. As we know in fact What broke the bank and the decimals was the 600 million extra expenditure that appeared in the DFPbut above all «the unexpected increase in spending for the Superbonus» — as revealed by the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti at the press conference — compensated with an equally unexpected increase in revenue.
Which in the end was not enough to achieve the desired goal. A fairly huge prediction error which surpasses, and by a lot, i 600 million euros too much which brought down the dream castle of Palazzo Chigi.
Giulio Tremontiwho as Minister of Economy of the Berlusconi governments has seen a lot, to be fair he doesn’t talk about this Gaddian mess. He limits himself to telling what Carlo Azeglio Ciampi told him twenty years ago: «The Accounting Office is fearsome». And then again Tremonti, who now leads the Foreign Affairs commission for FdI, adds that Istat has always been like this: neither good nor bad, only if anything “cold and passive”. So what? «Perhaps Minister Giorgetti should have called a few more preventive meetings before the DFP».
