Budget, Parliament votes on the programming document amid Monti's criticism

Today is the day Parliament votes on the 2026 Public Finance Programming Document and the report on the budget deviation, the mandatory accounting basis on which the financial maneuver will be built. The passage was marked by critical remarks, including from senator for life Mario Monti, who described the current phase of the international economy as a turning point.

“A phase that will be called the global public debt crisis” — Mario Monti, senator for life

Among the opposition, Pd MP Cecilia Guerra criticized the way the government handled the debate in the Chamber.

“Solidarity with minister Giorgetti, who spoke in front of an empty Chamber… it is indecent” — Cecilia Guerra, Pd MP

While the Chambers discuss the programming document, the government is working in parallel on another front. The Council of Ministers met today at 7pm at Palazzo Chigi with an agenda that includes the Budget Programming Document, to be sent to the European Commission by October 15 as a first preview of the 2027 budget law. Among the measures under examination by the Council of Ministers are also the new Highway Code and a decree dedicated to the former Ilva.

Against the backdrop of these two institutional steps remains the issue raised in recent days by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni: pressure on the European Union to obtain greater flexibility on public accounts linked to energy costs. The front pages of national newspapers led with the topic, also noting the risk that this battle over European flexibility could end up affecting the Irpef cut planned by the government. The Prime Minister claimed a negotiating approach toward Brussels.

“We are not in the EU just to say yes” — Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister

The three threads — the parliamentary vote on the programming document, the Council of Ministers meeting on the actual Budget Document, and the negotiation with the European Union on energy flexibility — all converge toward the same deadline: the sending of the Budget Programming Document to the European Commission by October 15, which remains the next formal milestone on the path toward the 2027 maneuver.