Spending review chief Cottarelli ready to quit, say media

(ANSA) - Rome, July 31 - Carlo Cottarelli, the commissioner in charge of the Italian government's spending review, is ready to resign over plans to use savings he has found for future spending programs, according to newspaper reports Thursday.
    Cottarelli "has one-foot-and-a-half out the door," said newspaper La Repubblica which, along with the Corriere della Sera, described growing frustration by Cottarelli who for months has been pouring over budget items to find inefficiencies and savings for the government of Premier Matteo Renzi.
    The newspapers reported that Cottarelli is prepared to return to his former post as director of fiscal affairs with the International Monetary Fund.
    Cottarelli, whose original task included finding savings to fund cuts to labour taxes, said Wednesday in a post on his blog that the plan seemed to have changed in ways that did not make sense.
    "If you use the resources from expenditure savings to increase spending itself, the savings cannot be used to reduce taxation on labor," said Cottarelli.
    Newspapers were reporting that if Cottarelli does resign, Renzi has already lined up a replacement.
    Cottarelli was appointed last fall by Renzi's predecessor, Enrico Letta, who asked the spending review commissioner to find savings to fund a reduction in labour taxes in the expectation that would ultimately boost employment and help the economy.
    In his blog post, Cottarelli said that he suspected the government would instead be using his spending review "as a tool to fund...new expenses".
    La Repubblica reported that Renzi's government may need to cut its spending by as much as 16 billion euros this year to meet its budget targets.