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The budget bill will then go to parliament, which must pass it by the end of the year. Investors have been demanding a higher premium to hold Italian government bonds since Rome last month raised its budget deficit targets for the 2023-2025 period, setting it up for a possible clash with the European Commission. AGEING POPULATIONNext year people earning up to 28,000 euros per year will pay income tax (known as IRPEF) at 23%, according to the officials. Meloni also aims to earmark at least 1 billion euros for measures, which have yet to be detailed, aimed at addressing Italy's demographic crisis. The scheme could increase tax revenues in Italy by between 2 and 3 billion euros, one official said.

Persons: Giorgia, Giancarlo Giorgetti, DBRS, Fitch, Moody's, Meloni, Giuseppe Fonte, Keith Weir Organizations: Treasury, European Commission, P, Thomson Locations: ROME, Rome, Ukraine, Italy

ROME, July 26 (Reuters) - Italy announced measures on Wednesday to help families and businesses hit by extreme climate events, as the country reels from a heatwave in the south and fierce storms in the north. A draft seen by Reuters showed that the decree had a cost of 10 million euros ($11.09 million) for state coffers. The government is ready to earmark some 10 million euros to refund airline tickets and hotel reservations to tourists without insurance coverage, Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said. The Lombardy region around Milan has already asked the government to declare a state of emergency and has estimated damage of over 40 million euros, Musumeci said. The state of emergency, one approved by the government, removes bureaucratic obstacles and speeds up procedures to provide financial help.

Persons: Giorgia, Marina Calderone, Nello Musumeci, Musumeci Organizations: heatwave, Labour, Reuters, Civil, Thomson Locations: Italy, Sicily, Catania, Etna, Milan, Lombardy

In mid-2020 Rome secured the lion's share of a 724-billion-euro kitty aimed at helping EU members emerge from COVID greener and more tech-friendly. Italy's 191.5 billion euros ($210 billion) of cheap loans and grants, to be received in tranches through 2026, was intended for productive investments in the bloc's most chronically stagnant economy. MICRO-PROJECTSMore than half the EU money is meant to go on digitalisation and ecological transition, with the rest devoted to sustainable transport, education, social cohesion and health. The government is still awaiting a 19-billion-euro tranche of the EU funds blocked in March over missed policy targets stemming from 2022. It brings Italy's byzantine rules closer to EU standards, but Gobbato said people will initially find it hard to adapt.

Persons: Flavio Lo Scalzo, Rome, Roberto Perotti, Giorgia Meloni, Mario Draghi, Giuseppe Conte, Carlo Messina, Intesa, Vittorio Soldavini, Davide Carlucci, It's, Gustavo Piga, Rome's, Ilaria, Dentons, Gobbato, Catherine Evans Organizations: REUTERS, Milan's Bocconi University, Treasury, European Central Bank, Technology, Tor Vergata University, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Milan, Italy, ROME, MILAN, tranches, Brussels, Italy's, Italian, Parma

The most surprising appointment was that of the new Enel chief Flavio Cattaneo, a seasoned corporate manager who leaves his role as vice president of high-speed train operator Italo to lead the country's biggest utility. He leap-frogged Stefano Donnarumma, the current chief executive of power grid Terna (TRN.MI), widely seen as Meloni's first choice. Enel shares were down 4% on Thursday, with investors fretting over Cattaneo's lack of expertise in the renewable energy sector. Leading politicians in Meloni's right-wing coalition said this issue was a major stumbling block for Donnarumma, along with pressure from League chief Salvini, a strong supporter of Cattaneo. Besides concessions on Enel, Meloni kept a tight grip on the rest of the main appointments.

The 19-billion-euro tranche is related to the 55 targets and milestones in Italy's pandemic Recovery Plan that were supposed to be reached in the second half of last year. The extra time means Italy has now until the end of April to persuade Brussels to release the funds, a government source told Reuters. Rome has so far secured almost 67 billion euros of the roughly 200 billion it is due to receive through 2026, dependent on it achieving Brussels' policy prescriptions. Rome is eligible for a further 34 billion euros in 2023, split into two tranches, provided it can meet all 96 objectives set for this year. The initial timetable set out in 2021 envisaged spending more than 40 billion euros of them by 2022, but this goal was repeatedly revised down and was most recently set at around 20 billion euros.

One of the so-called policy "milestones" in Italy's pandemic Recovery Plan agreed with Brussels in return for around 200 billion euros ($208 billion) of EU funds was the introduction of sanctions for retailers who refuse to accept card payments. "The scheme is formally compliant with the EU-funded plan," Santoro said. The budget also raises a limit on cash payments to 5,000 euros from a previous limit of 1,000 euros from next year. Italy has so far obtained almost 67 billion euros of the roughly 200 billion euros of EU funds it is due through 2026. It is eligible for a further 19 billion euros at the end of this year provided it can complete the 55 targets and milestones set for the second half of 2022.

[1/5] Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during a news conference to present her government's first budget in Rome, Italy, November 22, 2022. Meloni, a fiery conviction politician, has often spoken out against Italy's reliance on technocrats to solve its economic problems and lambasted alleged interference from "high international finance" and "Brussels bureaucrats". During the election campaign Meloni called in vain for her predecessor Mario Draghi to freeze the sale of a majority stake in ITA. PUSHBACKDeputy Economy and Finance Minister Maurizio Leo, an adviser to Meloni, had proposed splitting his ministry by hiving off the finance department responsible for tax matters. The head of the finance department, Fabrizia Lapecorella, has asked to move to another ministry, two sources said.

Enrico Letta said his centre-left Democratic Party would organise street protests on Dec. 17, while former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, leader of the left-leaning 5-Star Movement, called the cuts to the citizens' wage "inhuman." The budget allocates over 21 billion euros next year in tax breaks and bonuses to help firms and households pay electricity and gas bills. This comes on top of some 75 billion euros of similar measures approved this year. The curbs on the citizens' wage, which the rightist coalition says discourages people from seeking work, is particularly contentious. Meloni, who has always opposed the citizens' wage, insisted it was wrong "to put people who can work on the same level as those that can't."

She told reporters she would spend more than nine billion euros on an anti-inflation package in a decree next week. The government raised Italy's GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.7% from 3.3% on the back of stronger expected expansion in the third quarter, while leaving the 2023 forecast unchanged at 0.6%. RECORD INFLATIONThe Treasury's targets will form the framework for the 2023 budget that Meloni will present to parliament this month for approval by the end of the year. Public finances this year have gone better than forecast, with value added tax revenues and excise duties boosted by inflation and surging energy prices. Giorgetti said Italy's public debt, proportionally the highest in the euro zone after Greece's, will fall steadily from the 150.3% of GDP level registered in 2021 to 141.2% in 2025.

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