At the Council of Ministers scheduled for next Tuesday, August 4, a new decree on public administration should be approved with a main objective: to stop the risk of a massive expense to recognize meal vouchers and allowances to public employees on vacation.
Read more Start Lab 2026: Unicredit supports 52 young businesses
Ask the Sun
The questions are automatically suggested by 24Ore AI
based on the content viewed.
The alarm
The two cases have a common origin but differ in their future development. However, they are united by the fact that they pose a significant threat to public accounts, which the Conference of Regions quantified at 2 billion euros when it raised the issue with the Ministry of Economy and Public Administration. For the future, allowances during vacation days will be recognized according to the rules set in the newly renewed national contracts, while meal vouchers will be linked to working days, whether on-site or remote (the contracts also intervene here). But the problem primarily concerns the past.
The rulings…
The issue was triggered by a series of rulings, first in the private sector (particularly transport) and then in the public sector, which recognized these items even on vacation days.
In particular for meal vouchers, on which public employment regulations are silent, the issue is tricky: primarily due to the numbers. Public employees are many, and the annual personnel account prepared by the State General Accounting Office shows that in one year their vacation days exceed 65 million, with an average of 21 days used per person. Hence the potential billion-euro expense that would come from a generalized recognition including arrears. Not to mention some paradoxes generated by the rulings: which require guaranteeing meal vouchers during vacation that were denied when the day is reduced, for example, by permits, and therefore does not reach the contractual 7.2 hours.
…and the EU rules
However, the Italian rulings stem from a position of the EU Court of Justice, called upon to protect the principle of effectiveness of holiday protection which, to avoid discouraging the right to rest, requires maintaining on those days a remuneration substantially equivalent to that recognized when at work (rulings Robinson-Steele, Schultz-Hoff, Williams, Torsten Hein and Koch). The same criterion, established by Directive 2003/88/EC, applies to additional allowances; but in this case the issue for the future is already resolved by national contracts, which recognize sums for shifts, hardship, and external service even during vacation.
More funds for universities
The decree should also contain a package dedicated to education. Starting with 60 million for the university system, including an additional 50 million on the Ordinary Financing Fund that will be used to close the Ffo 2026 operation without damage. The allocation will allow keeping the variation range, compared to 2025, between 0/+5% and, therefore, protect universities that, in the transition from the old Research Quality Evaluation 2015-19 to the new Vqr 2020-24, would have lost resources. By doing so, no academic institution will see its contribution from the State decrease, and those who have improved their performance from one year to the next will benefit.
Completing the package of Mur proposals, on one hand, is the equalization of diplomas issued by Afam institutions (Conservatories, Academies, and Design Institutes) to degrees. On the other hand, a new extension – from June 30 to December 31, 2026 – of the current configuration of the National University Council. Awaiting the reform contained in a bill, under review by the Senate’s VII commission in first reading, which will revise its composition and duties.
Read more Giving young people a perspective to counter social distress
