‘A prudent budget, with some measures that are worthy of support, but still not sufficiently focused on growth and the development of human capital’.
This is the assessment put forward by Cida, the Confederation representing senior managers and highly qualified professionals in the public and private sectors, during the hearing on the draft 2027–2029 Budget Bill, at which it submitted a written statement containing observations and proposed amendments. The first issue raised by Cida concerns tax fairness.
The reduction in the personal income tax rate to 33 per cent for incomes between 28,000 and 55,000 euros is viewed positively. It calls for ‘this tax bracket to be extended at least up to 80,000 euros and for the issue of tax drag to be addressed structurally’. The Confederation also proposes extending tax relief on productivity bonuses, recognising the contribution of skilled professionals to companies’ results.
On the issue of pensions, Cida categorically rejects Article 55 and calls for its repeal. The provision introduces a revaluation mechanism for 2027 that penalises pensions exceeding four times the minimum, applying reduced percentages to the entire pension rather than to individual brackets. For pensions exceeding ten times the minimum, the adjustment would be capped at just 32 per cent of inflation.
“Yet another intervention regarding pension adjustments not only affects pensioners’ incomes, but also risks undermining an essential element for the sustainability of the system: trust in the social security pact between the State and its citizens,” said Marco Ballarè, vice-president of Cida and president of Manageritalia.
“Pensions are not a piggy bank to be dipped into whenever resources are needed to balance the public finances,” added Valter Quercioli, president of Federmanager and a member of the CIDA delegation. Article 55 once again targets those who have worked, paid contributions and followed the rules for their entire lives.
It is a profoundly unfair decision, because the loss of purchasing power will not end in 2027, but will continue into subsequent years.” Federmanager is also proposing a national programme to introduce managerial practices to 1,000 manufacturing SMEs, with an investment of 255 million euros over three years. Healthcare and education are two further areas in which Cida is calling for more decisive action.
As regards the National Health Service, whilst acknowledging the increase in resources, the Confederation considers the additional 2.4 billion provided for in the Budget to be insufficient, given that the minimum requirement is estimated at around 5.5 billion.
Without a structural plan for recruitment and the development of healthcare staff, there is a risk of exacerbating the exodus of doctors from the public sector and the lengthening of waiting lists, forcing more and more citizens to pay for treatment out of their own pockets or to forego preventive care.
On the education front, Cida has expressed concern about the planned reduction, from the 2027–2028 academic year, of 4,925 teaching posts and 2,049 administrative, technical and support staff posts. The Confederation notes that the decline in the population should be seen as an opportunity to improve the quality of education, not as a reason to cut resources further.
“We welcome the allocation of resources for the energy-efficiency refurbishment of school buildings: investing in the quality and sustainability of learning environments is…
