Will the sector get its funds?

It’s the last call. Both for Italy’s minister of the economy, Giulio Tremonti and for the 5xmille (5 per thousand), a measure which enables Italian taxpayers to allocate 0.005 per cent of their income tax to a non profit organization or institution of their choice. After the government’s many promises, the latest rumours say that the 300 million euro funds, currently reduced to 100 million, will be included in a decree. The decree, called the Milleproroghe, literally “ the one thousand extensions”, will be discussed at the Italian council of ministers on Wednesday, 22 December.

The vice president of the chamber of deputies, Maurizio Lupi (a representative of the centre-right majority), said he was “sure” that “the funding will be included in the decree, because Tremonti promised it would”. But the centre-left minority party, the PD, immediately protested when the Italian news agency, ANSA, revealed that there was no room for the 5xmille in the Milleproroghe decree: “the majority only mentions general funding, no specific mention or action is included. If the 5xmille loses its funding, the principle of solidarity will be at risk. I sincerely hope that Lupi is right and that his hope is matched by the government’s will,” said Enrico Farinone, vice president of the Commission for European Affairs.

The government had even spoken about a plan B: if funds for the 5xmille were not to be found in the Milleproroghe, they could be added at the beginning of 2011, during the decree’s double parliamentary passage – first through the Chamber of Deputies and then through the Senate  – before being turned into law.

Now it is up to the council of ministers to discuss the funding for the 5xmille. Will they or will they not add the missing 300 million euros?