Today in Italy: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday
Italian PM to reform 'illogical' tax rules, Italy fails to meet European air quality standards, Senate to start examining assisted suicide bill, and more news from Italy on Thursday.
Italy's top story on Thursday:
Meloni pledges to reform ‘illogical’ tax offence penalties
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday said that her government was planning an overhaul of Italy's tax offence penalties in a bid to create “a new idea of Italy, closer to the needs of taxpayers and companies”.
She said her cabinet was working on replacing current rules, which she described as “disproportionate, illogical and vexatious... and quite useless too," with new parameters focusing on people who are “unable to pay, but want to do so”, reported news agency Ansa.
On Monday, the government put forward a number of measures it said were intended to make it easier for citizens to settle tax disputes with authorities – a move criticised by political commentators as “a gift to tax dodgers”.
Italy has lost some 932 billion euros to tax evasion over the past ten years alone, according to estimates from financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.
EU opens infringement procedure against Italy over poor air quality
The European Commission on Wednesday opened an infringement procedure against Italy for failing to meet air quality obligations under a 2020 EU Court of Justice ruling, news agency Ansa reported.
The EU Commission reportedly said that pollution levels in 2022 exceeded daily limits in 24 "air quality zones" and annual limits in one zone.
Italy now has two months to respond and "close the gap", otherwise the Commission may refer Italy back to the Court of Justice.
The court ruled in November 2020 that Italy was "persistently" breaching European air quality standards.
Senate to start examining assisted suicide bill in late March
Italian senators were to start examining a draft bill on March 26th aiming to provide a regulatory framework for assisted suicide in Italy, Ansa reported on Tuesday.
"At last parliament will resume debating a piece of legislation that is necessary and can no longer be postponed,” bill signatory Alfredo Bazoli, from the centre-left Democratic Party, said.
Though most forms of assisted suicide are still illegal in Italy and punishable by between five and 12 years in prison, a watershed Constitutional Court ruled in 2019 that there were certain exceptions related to specific patient conditions.
But attempts to bring in laws regulating access to assisted suicide in the circumstances outlined by the 2019 ruling have failed so far.
According to Censis estimates cited by newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, 74 percent of Italians are in favour of allowing assisted dying.
Italy tightens controls on police database access
Police and intelligence chiefs upped controls on databases amid an investigaton into a police officer who allegedly used official systems to download information on public figures including right-wing politicians as well as Italian rapper Fedez and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, Ansa reported.
The prime minister's office announced the tighter checks were already being put in place on Wednesday, stating that it had "identified paths ... to make the control system more stringent, with appropriate alerts to prevent abuse and with periodic checks".
The financial police officer at the centre of the investigation is accused of illegally accessing some 50,000 files, including from anti-mafia databases, for unknown purposes.
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Italy's top story on Thursday:
Meloni pledges to reform ‘illogical’ tax offence penalties
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday said that her government was planning an overhaul of Italy's tax offence penalties in a bid to create “a new idea of Italy, closer to the needs of taxpayers and companies”.
She said her cabinet was working on replacing current rules, which she described as “disproportionate, illogical and vexatious... and quite useless too," with new parameters focusing on people who are “unable to pay, but want to do so”, reported news agency Ansa.
On Monday, the government put forward a number of measures it said were intended to make it easier for citizens to settle tax disputes with authorities – a move criticised by political commentators as “a gift to tax dodgers”.
Italy has lost some 932 billion euros to tax evasion over the past ten years alone, according to estimates from financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.
EU opens infringement procedure against Italy over poor air quality
The European Commission on Wednesday opened an infringement procedure against Italy for failing to meet air quality obligations under a 2020 EU Court of Justice ruling, news agency Ansa reported.
The EU Commission reportedly said that pollution levels in 2022 exceeded daily limits in 24 "air quality zones" and annual limits in one zone.
Italy now has two months to respond and "close the gap", otherwise the Commission may refer Italy back to the Court of Justice.
The court ruled in November 2020 that Italy was "persistently" breaching European air quality standards.
Senate to start examining assisted suicide bill in late March
Italian senators were to start examining a draft bill on March 26th aiming to provide a regulatory framework for assisted suicide in Italy, Ansa reported on Tuesday.
"At last parliament will resume debating a piece of legislation that is necessary and can no longer be postponed,” bill signatory Alfredo Bazoli, from the centre-left Democratic Party, said.
Though most forms of assisted suicide are still illegal in Italy and punishable by between five and 12 years in prison, a watershed Constitutional Court ruled in 2019 that there were certain exceptions related to specific patient conditions.
But attempts to bring in laws regulating access to assisted suicide in the circumstances outlined by the 2019 ruling have failed so far.
According to Censis estimates cited by newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, 74 percent of Italians are in favour of allowing assisted dying.
Italy tightens controls on police database access
Police and intelligence chiefs upped controls on databases amid an investigaton into a police officer who allegedly used official systems to download information on public figures including right-wing politicians as well as Italian rapper Fedez and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, Ansa reported.
The prime minister's office announced the tighter checks were already being put in place on Wednesday, stating that it had "identified paths ... to make the control system more stringent, with appropriate alerts to prevent abuse and with periodic checks".
The financial police officer at the centre of the investigation is accused of illegally accessing some 50,000 files, including from anti-mafia databases, for unknown purposes.
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