Cursi (An): "Another rejection of the measures launched by the Marrazzo junta inadequate to attack the structural deficit" "Marrazzo invents a stratagem to avoid the arrival of the commissioner"
"The first meeting of the year between the Ministry of Economy and the Region has decreed the rejection of the plan to reduce the deficit for 2008. Now the Marrazzo junta will have to launch measures capable of attacking the structural deficit of the health system". This was supported by the vice president of the Senate Health Commission Cesare Cursi (An) who promises to urgently summon the technicians of the Ministry of Economy and Health to the commission to make public the debt figures and avoid the risk of new taxes. Senator Cursi, why does the deficit change according to who does the accounts, Region or State Accounting Department? «When it comes to evaluating the figures disclosed by the Region, we can safely say that we are at the mystification of reality. Or, rather, to make fun of the citizens. The satisfaction expressed by the Marrazzo junta lies in the fact that it has traded the danger of receivership, with the yielding in the allotment of 200 million euros for health in favor of other regions. The data of the joint technical table held on 14 January unequivocally sanctioned the collapse of the health accounts, highlighting a presumed 2008 deficit of 1 billion and 630 million euros. During the same verification, the technicians proposed a series of modifications to the current measures which, if adopted now, could reduce the 2008 deficit to 1 billion and 250 million euros». But is there also a profound discrepancy between the measures to be taken for coverage? «The Region has found coverage, so far, for only one billion euros. In other words, the Marrazzo junta took the first billion euros of losses for granted and limited itself to communicating only the uncovered part. It is worth remembering that the citizens of Lazio for this billion euro deficit already pay the highest IRAP and Irpef in Italy (700 million euro) and for the remainder (300 million euro) the Region has enjoyed the benevolence of the "extraordinary fund" provided for by the 2007 State Budget". But the 2007 deficit also travels to one billion and 700 million. Nothing has changed… «For this year, the start at minus 1 billion has been taken for granted and nothing has been done with the cost-cutting measures for hospital care, pharmaceutical costs and personnel costs. All the measures adopted have been judged to be ineffective, or nearly so». What will be the consequences? We are now at the paradox. After two warnings from the Prime Minister, as many rejections by the technical table on the proposed remedies, a structural deficit of more than 1.6 billion euros, the Prodi government is unable to adopt the measures dictated by the rules it itself wanted. Instead, citizens need to know what the current state of regional finances is to put an end to any ballet of figures and clearly indicate what imminent danger they will soon face: in a few months the need for a budget maneuver to decree a further sting could emerge on the horizon ". Il Giornale of 22/01/2008, article by Antonella Aldrighetti ed. Rome p. 3
