Italian parliament gives green light to growth package

The Italian parliament on Friday gave final approval to a package of measures aimed at energizing the country's troubled economy. The package largely focused on cutting bureaucracy and streamlining the civil justice system, while reshuffling existing financial resources. The measures gave priority to infrastructures by appropriating around 3 billion euros (around 4 billion U.S. dollars) for public projects this year that the government said should create 30,000 temporary construction jobs. Private and business consumers will see total savings of 550 million euros (735 million dollars) on their electricity bills, while a tax on yachts under 14 meters imposed by the previous technocratic government was also abolished in order to revive the crisis-hit sector. The decree allocated money to school buildings and roads, and introduced a 25-percent pay cut for senior managers of listed companies under public control. Earlier this week the parliament passed another decree aimed at reducing youth unemployment, with tax breaks for companies who employ under-30s or turn their fixed-term contracts into permanent posts. Prime Minister Enrico Letta has assured the European Commission that Italy would keep its target of a 2.9-percent budget deficit this year. He said his government will make suitable social and fiscal policies while carefully managing state resources. Nonetheless, the fragile left-right coalition remained divided over demands that tax on primary residences be abolished. Members of former premier Silvio Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom party, a junior partner in the Letta government, said their support was conditional on these demands. Even though recent economic figures showed Italy is emerging from its longest recession over two decades, Letta acknowledged Friday that the country risked enduring a "difficult autumn." "There are signs of growth and recovery ... but the social climate is very hard and full of difficulty. This is the greatest risk for autumn," he told a press conference before the parliament's summer recess.