Court of Auditors and Pnrr, green light for minor controls and tax shield – Corriere.it

The hearing of the president of the Court of Auditors, Guido Carlino, and then the subsequent summit at Palazzo Chigi with Carlino himself were useless. The government amendment that excludes the “concomitant control” of the Court on the Pnrr and extends the tax shield until June 2024 was approved by the same Constitutional Affairs and Labor commissions that had listened to Carlino a few hours earlier. Attempts by the opposition to block the amendment were useless. In the morning it was the Speaker of the Chamber himself, Lorenzo Fontana, who declared him admissible. From Monday, the decree on public administration, which contains the approved amendment, will be examined in the classroom.

The risk of an “increase in unlawful acts and appeals”

In the hearing, Carlino, while distancing himself from the slogans of the oppositions (“I don’t think we can speak of a gag of the government to the Court”) defended the merits of the concomitant control, i.e. what the accounting magistrates do during construction, observing that it “has the purpose of allowing a propulsive function”, helping the administration to “correct itself”. In short, the opposite of that obstacle to the implementation of the Pnrr denounced by the government. Among other things, Carlino warned of the risk of an “increase in unlawful acts and appeals” which would derive from a relaxation of the Court’s controls and reiterated his “absolute opposition” to the shield for directors, denying that it is the fear of tax liability to block the signatures necessary for the construction of the works: it depends “rather on legislative confusion, poor preparation and staff reduced to the bone”.

A common work table

Arguments that Carlino repeated in the summit at Palazzo Chigi with the minister with the delegation on the Pnrr, Raffaele Fitto, and with the undersecretary to the presidency, Alfredo Mantovano. A joint note released at the end assures that the meeting was “long and cordial” and in which “the need for full and loyal collaboration between the institutions was shared and the will to strengthen confrontation and dialogue was reaffirmed”. To this end, «from next week», «a joint working table will be opened, with a view to a revision of the following institutions: regulation of tax liability; concurrent control mechanism; adoption of a control code”. Having said this, the government takes note of the Court’s no to the extension of the tax shield, but “reiterates the need for the extension until 30 June 2024” while committing itself “to a discussion with the Court for the development of a more updated and stable discipline ». Fitto assures that “there is no intention of limiting the role of the Court: the shield had already been extended by the Conte and Draghi governments”.

Italy has excellent control systems

The EU commissioner for economic affairs, Paolo Gentiloni, also spoke on the subject yesterday: «It is up to the control systems of the various countries, and Italy has excellent ones, to control the phenomena of fraud, corruption, double spending of European funds. We cannot do this from Brussels for 27 countries”. The Democratic Party is tough with Arturo Scotto: “It is no longer the PA decree, but the gag decree”. The M5S speaks of “arrogance and ruthlessness of the government”. Gentiloni also said yesterday that “the third installment of the Pnrr funds (19 billion) will arrive soon”.