Planning documents play a key role in providing detailed information on the economic policy action taken by the Government and in ensuring its transparency. They set out the Government’s objectives and the tools used to achieve them. However, in addition to this general function, each document has its specific role within the budget process and is related to Italy’s social and economic change. Moreover, as a result of the ongoing European integration process and the serious financial crisis that has hit Europe in the last few years, national economic and fiscal policies are now being coordinated; this has significantly changed the structure of the documents as well as the deadlines for submitting them.

The instruments of the financial programming and budget are provided by Law No. 39 of April 7, 2011, which amended Law No. 196 of 31 December 2009, as a result of the new rules adopted by the European Union in the field of coordination of the economic policies of the Member States and the EU Regulation No. 473/2013 of 21 May 2013 (PDF, 805 KB) on common provisions for monitoring and assessing draft budgetary plans and ensuring the correction of excessive deficit of the Member States of the euro area.