The extension of the tax shield is not only unnecessary, but risks discouraging many virtuous administrators.
The Court of Auditors once again reiterates its opposition to an issue that is already the subject of friction with the government and on which the majority has returned to pressing with the Milleproroghe.
The issue is closely linked to the topic of the Pnrr, which is anything but secondary for the accounting judiciary which denounces "several reports of irregularities" and "significant delays".
But the government is already ready to provide answers in the next decree, the fourth on the Recovery and Resilience Plan, which could arrive on the CDM table on Thursday.
The provision promises to be a complex and substantial text of around fifty articles, in which simplifications, strengthening of staff, pushes for the implementation of projects at local level will be inserted, in addition to the Transition 5.0 plan for the digital and 'green' transformation of businesses.
The inauguration ceremony of the 2024 judicial year, in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and the highest officials of the State, is an opportunity for the leaders of the Court of Auditors to once again draw attention to the extension of the tax shield, already criticized last summer, when the tug-of-war with the government took place over the crackdown on the Court's controls on the Pnrr's expenses.
The current system of guarantees "would seem to make the further extension" of this instrument, introduced exceptionally during the pandemic to resolve the problem of the 'fear of signing', unnecessary, underlines the President of the Court, Guido Carlino: "The the current regulatory structure - he explains - guarantees, with the limitation of liability only to cases of willful misconduct or gross negligence, a point of balance".
To overcome the difficulties of administrative action, therefore, reducing the area of responsibility "does not seem to be the most suitable response": indeed, "it could act as a disincentive", warns the new Attorney General Pio Silvestri, who expresses his "concern" with which all magistrates are looking at legislative interventions in this sense.
The Court, claiming "autonomy and independence" as a "protection" and guarantee for citizens, also highlights another issue: the jurisdictional and control tasks have been "weakened" over time.
Hence the appeal for "rational interventions", warns Carlino, who calls for "shared reforms formulated gradually", subordinating their implementation to the "prior opinion of the assembled Sections".
On the horizon, he reminds us, there are in fact the "significant reforms envisaged in the Pnrr", including that of the PA and public accounting.
And the Pnrr itself is already under the scrutiny of the accounting judiciary, which detects "several reports of irregularities": from the undue perception of resources to the construction of works that do not comply with the projects, with "malicious distraction or squandering of the assigned resources", observes the attorney general, who also reports "critical issues" on other fronts: from the provision of contributions, by way of citizen's income, to the contributions for energy efficiency provided by the GSE (a phenomenon with a "significant financial dimension", but "no spaces large areas of concrete recovery").
Then there is the issue of "medical responsibility", the Court points out, part of the broader problem of the "systemic crisis" of healthcare which requires "decisions and investments that can no longer be postponed".
Finally, for the management of economic policy, new challenges are posed by the worsening geopolitical context, warns the Court.
In the room listen to the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti.
"Different pressures and needs, expertly balanced, must guarantee a process of rebalancing the accounts and a gradual reduction in the debt-to-GDP ratio", observes Carlino, who suggests: measures are needed which, in providing responses to families and businesses, ensure a " orderly and progressive" reconfiguration of revenues and expenses within a framework compatible with the "sustainability of the high debt".
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