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Italy COVID-19 Legislative measures – An overview, in English, of the Decree Law 17 March 2020 n.18 providing for a €25 billion package of measures

Today the Government approved a €25 billion package of measures in the form of a Decree-Law to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, thus immediately using all the additional resources authorised by the Parliament’s vote to raise the planned 2020 deficit.

• During the press conference following the Cabinet meeting, Minister of Economy and Finance Gualtieri explained that the Decree-Law will:
  • allocate another €3.5 billion to the NHS, the Civil Protection Department, and all other State bodies engaged in the containment and management of the coronavirus outbreak;
  • allocate €10 billion to expand income support schemes, unemployment benefits, and all other measures to minimise the impact of the epidemic on jobs;
  • inject (an unspecified amount of) liquidity in the credit system with the purpose of allowing approximately €340 billion in funding in the real economy to be mobilised;
  • suspend the payment of taxes, bills, and social security contributions, with special regard for the most affected economic sectors;
  • provide “additional support to a wide array of economic sectors”

Interestingly enough, Gualtieri referred to this Decree-Law as “the March Decree”, suggesting that moving forward the Government plans to adopt one comprehensive piece of legislation per month. In fact, both Gualtieri and Prime Minister Conte announced that “this Decree does not exhaust our duties in the economic field” and stated that additional measures will be adopted in April, “hopefully with the support of the EU”.

PM Conte anticipated that the next Decree (to be adopted in April) will provide for “a substantial investment plan, bureaucratic simplification, innovation, and a reduction in the tax burden”, perhaps delivering on the much-touted fiscal stimulus package whose actual scale and scope in this latest Decree-Law remains unclear at this stage.

This Decree-Law will now be submitted to Parliament for ratification.

Telos A&S drafted a courtesy overview, in English, of the Decree-Law.

If you are interested to know more please contact Telos A&S at telos@telosaes.it

You may download the overview, in English, of the Decree-Law below