Italy’s centre-right government on Wednesday proposed a tax amnesty aimed at repatriating billions of euros – the bulk believed to be held in Swiss bank accounts – on the most favourable terms yet offered to tax evaders by a European Union member state.

The amnesty will be the third offered by Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right government following packages in 2001 and 2003, which brought €46bn back to Italy and earned the government €2.1bn in revenues.