The construction site of the maneuver is proceeding at a rapid pace. The meeting with the unions was a new fundamental stage for Giorgia Meloni’s government. The executive explained that it will review the rule, contained in the budget law, which cuts the pension rates of different categories of public employees, namely doctors, nurses, employees of local authorities, kindergarten teachers and judicial officers.
For the executive, the fundamental point is that if the contribution base is not increased, little can be done. “I understand the vested rights on some pensions that are calculated in a certain way, but we have to be careful, because if too advantageous conditions are ensured, we pass the costs on to future generations” Meloni would have said during the meeting.
Brussels limits the field of action
The prime minister then highlighted how under the given conditions and considering the existing constraints, the executive has made the maximum possible effort both to finance public employment contracts and to confirm the cut in the contribution wedge and the measures to support the family in 2024. In other words, more than this could not be done.
A large part of the meeting with the unions was then occupied by the discussion on the Pnrr and in particular on the revision of the Plan approved by the European Commission. The last installment should arrive within a few days, as confirmed by the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti. As for the South, Meloni would have spoken of the possibility of the entire South becoming a special economic zone.
The tug of war over pensions continues
Old age pensions will not be penalised, not only for the healthcare sector, but for everyone. As for doctors, nurses and the healthcare sector, the government is defining “a further protection mechanism in order to reduce the penalty when approaching old age pension age” as Meloni clarified at the table with the unions. The executive, Meloni guaranteed, is working to “resolve and correct”, modifying the measure “in the best possible way”.
However, the prime minister highlighted how young people’s pensions are “a huge problem”. Because of this the executive wanted a “fair” rule in favor of the younger generations. “The game of downloading all the cost of pensions We didn’t do it on the generations that come later – added the Prime Minister -, certainly it is more profitable in terms of consensus to deal with those who are here and now, but the cost was passed on to those who could not defend themselves and were not aware of what was happening.”
However, there are those who see the glass half empty
On pensions “the government has essentially confirmed that it intends to intervene and raise cash. We are faced with a provision that introduces the concept that action can also be taken retroactively and maintains a profile of unconstitutionality as well as gravity” he declared the general secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini, after the meeting at Palazzo Chigi.
Meanwhile, from next January pensions will be a little heavier, although not in the same way for everyone. The government has set the inflation adjustment for next year at 5.4%. But by virtue of the band mechanism which guarantees full equalization only for allowances up to approximately 2,200 euros, the increases will be diversified, up to a maximum of 130 euros in the bands in which the majority of pensioners are concentrated.
Measurements for women
While the controversy over patriarchy is heating up in the country, the government has meanwhile confirmed its willingness to help women looking for work. The new one will debut in January decontribution scheduled for workers with at least two children. If the Budget Law will not undergo changes for working mothers with three or more children in an employment relationship employee a indefinite period (excluding domestic work), for the pay periods from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2026, a exemption of 100% of the share of social security contributions for disability, old age and survivors to be paid by the worker up to the month of the youngest child’s eighteenth birthday, within the maximum annual limit of 3 thousand euros adjusted on a monthly basis.
For working mothers with two sons, on an experimental basis, for the pay periods from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024, the same relief is provided but up to the month of the youngest child’s tenth birthday. Therefore, the measure is valid for the three-year period 2024-26 in favor of mothers with three or more children, of which at least one is a minor and, for 2024 only, also for mothers with two children, at least one of whom is under the age of ten. . The measure is applicable to all workers with permanent contracts, regardless of salary level. For incomes up to 35 thousand the intervention will go hand in hand with the wedge cut.
In the relation technique the 2024 Budget Law indicates that working mothers in the private sector with at least three children – one of whom is under 18 – are approximately 111mila. Female employees with two children, one of whom is under 10 years old, are approximately 571 thousand. As regards the female employees of the sector public the unofficial estimate is that they are, in terms of number, equal to around a quarter of private employees (it should be around a fifth, but the public sector typically records higher female employment rates).