The 2026 budget of the Meloni Government provides for a cut to the subways, infrastructures that move millions of citizens every day with a blow that weighs on Rome, Milan and Naples.
In these cities, the subway construction sites risk slowing down or completely jamming, just as these entities are trying to focus on more modern and sustainable mobility.
In the maneuver cuts to the subways
But the losers are not only the large urban railway projects, but also cycle routes, funds for sustainable mobility, strategic roads and territorial works, from the Tirrenica motorway (-80 million) to the Cispadana (-10 million) up to the state roads 106 Jonica (-49.9 million) and 4 Salaria (-50 million).
According to the tables attached to the 2026 Budget Law, the cuts to the Ministry of Infrastructure concern over 520 million euros in three years to guarantee part of the coverage necessary for the Maneuver. The most visible share concerns the subways:
- 50 million cut for Rome’s line C;
- 15 million cut for the M4 line in Milan;
- 15 million cut for the extension of rapid transport in the Afragola and Naples area;
- reduced resources for new trains.
Bipartisan political controversy
A paradox that ignites bipartisan protests. In Rome the cut puts at risk agreements and construction sites already underway, such as the crucial one in Piazza Venezia. The Capitol fears a worsening of private traffic, in a city already exhausted in terms of urban mobility. In Milan there are fears of a stall on the M4 and a further delay in connecting the city with its airport and neighborhoods in transformation. In Naples, administrators denounce yet another obstacle to the construction of a modern metro system.
The majority, however, is divided. Tajani asks Salvini to intervene. The League responds with another version: not cuts, but “reprogramming” of resources, moved further forward in time. De facto reductions, the PD and mayors contest, because cities today need certain funding to plan works, materials and services.
The list of sacrifices does not end in the subway tunnels: 2 million go to urban cycle paths and 13 to the sustainable mobility fund. A symbolic slowdown just as Europe is pushing towards the Green Deal. The blanket, as is known, is short. But less money for road works and environmental interventions are choices that contradict the Government’s own promises on the energy transition and the competitiveness of the territories.
Refinancing
The list of cuts also includes a 1 million defunding in 2026 for interventions in Lombardy, Veneto, Trento and Bolzano for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Faced with the cuts, the refinancings are striking for their much smaller weight: 500,000 euros for the celebrations of Saint Francis, the same for the Sussidiarietà Foundation, funds for Gemelli, cultural contributions arriving in Parliament.
Italian mayors against the maneuver
In the meantime, Italian mayors are also alarmed: despite some “positive signals” contained in the 2026 Budget Law, the Anci (National Association of Italian Municipalities) has expressed its concerns: without greater resources, mayors fear they will not be able to guarantee adequate standards in essential services such as nurseries, local public transport, housing and security. For this reason, an urgent meeting with the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti was requested.
