Supporting the 2026 Budget is a series of cuts to public spending. The text affected several ministries, but the one that suffered the most significant cuts was the portfolio of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. The “guillotine” cuts 10.4 billion euros of planned and financed expenses, even if only 3.2 billion are definitively cancelled. The rest have been postponed by three years, from 2029 to 2031.
Matteo Salvini, the transport minister, criticized the approach. If it is true that the Bridge already has its funding, the Housing Plan does not.
To make a serious home plan I need money, otherwise how do I do it, with Legos?
The request falls into the void of cuts already designed to support other expenses and so the Northern League leader has to do without 520 million euros for 2026 alone, for a total of over 1 billion less in three years.
Cuts to ministries: the amounts saved and postponed
Not “cuts”, but a spending review. Thus the 2026 Budget takes money away from ministries to finance other initiatives, such as military spending and the cut to personal income tax.
The text is not yet final, but it is now clear to all ministers that their portfolios will become lighter – otherwise the entire structure of the maneuver would not be based on “prudence” and “savings”.
Hence the calculations: cuts of over 10 billion euros, of which 3.2 have been definitively canceled and 7.2 have been reprogrammed. These are unused investment funds, which the Meloni government has decided to postpone to the three-year period 2029-2031, i.e. to the next legislature.
In the meantime, the ministries that will lose parts as early as 2026 are different and in some the cuts are more evident than in others.
All the cuts to ministries: what has been removed
Among those most affected is the Ministry of the Environment. In 2026 alone, cuts of 376 million euros are expected, equal to 11% of the total portfolio, which amounts to 3.4 billion euros.
The cuts concern crucial areas such as the protection and management of water resources and the territory, but also the prevention of hydrogeological risk, which alone will lose 27% of resources. Sectors which are also affected by the delays of the Pnrr.
Followed by the Ministry of Education, which will have to give up 141 million euros. The reduction is due to the reprogramming of a Pnrr investment for improving the safety of school buildings: 98 million are cut from the program, equal to 6.6% of the total.
The Ministry of the Interior loses 170 million euros in funds for the fight against crime, the protection of public order and interventions in favor of asylum seekers and refugees (out of a total of 7.7 billion).
The Ministry of Economy reduces the resources allocated to the assessment and collection of revenues and the management of state real estate assets (–21.6 million out of 195 in the budget). Cuts also to the Guardia di Finanza (–44 million) and the Revenue Agency (–48 million out of 3.3 billion).
There are also cuts to Culture, in particular to the cinema sector, which goes from 700 to 550 million euros, and to the planning and allocation of resources for the protection of cultural heritage (–9%). Finally, the Ministry of Health loses 89 million, equal to 3.7% of the expected budget. Fewer resources will go to public healthcare, while the provision for private individuals will increase.
Each minister will be able to redistribute the cuts across different programs, but only after presenting a proposal and obtaining the approval from Minister Giorgetti.
Salvini the most affected by the cuts of the Maneuver
The most penalized, and which deserves a separate chapter, as already mentioned, is the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. Matteo Salvini has already made it known that he is not satisfied: he must in fact give up 1.3 billion euros over the next three years, of which 520 million in 2026 alone.
Among the cuts, the most discussed is that to investments for the right to mobility, which loses 164 million euros. Also included is the famous cut in funding for the Rome, Milan and Naples metros.
The clash between Forza Italia and the League ended with a clarification from the League: not cuts, but “remodulation” of expenses.
However, it is clear that today’s cuts, although they may be called “reprogramming” or “remodulation”, do not guarantee that the sums will actually be restored in the future. It is therefore more correct to define them as cuts, because they have a real effect on spending in the three-year period 2026-2029.
After mobility, public infrastructures and logistics also suffer reductions of 328 million euros, divided as follows:
- 100 million euros to the High Yield Infrastructure Fund;
- 80 million euros for the contribution for the Tirrenica motorway;
- 2 million euros for the development of urban cycle paths;
- 50 million to the state road 106 Jonica and Salaria.
