“The CDM has approved several measures, the most important is the taxation on the unjust margins of the banks”. Giorgia Meloni defends the intervention on extra profits launched a few days ago in the cabinet. “Unfair margins”, underlines the prime minister, speaking during ‘Giorgia’s notes’, the usual appointment broadcast via social media. But it also touches on other issues: from the intervention on credit institutions, to the abolition of the citizen’s income, up to the minimum wage proposed by the oppositions which – he warns – “may not be an effective solution”. Words that arouse an angry reply from the parties who will meet her at Palazzo Chigi on Friday: “So what are we going to do?”. And from the Democratic Party they add: “The premier is looking for the accident?”
The banks
Speaking of the measure of the CDM, the prime minister explained on video: “We live in a complicated phase and the ECB’s response was to intervene with a very decisive interest rate policy. Thus prices increase, the cost of money and mortgages, existing loans and leads to a contraction of the economy. It is essential for us that the banking system behaves correctly”. And he added: “We are registering record profits from many banking institutions, which is why we intervened with the taxation of 40% on the unfair difference in the interest margin, i.e. the difference between the amount of passive and active interest of the banks”. According to Meloni “there has been an increase in the passive rates that the banks have applied to their customers, equal to which, however, the lending rates recognized by the banks to those who deposit in the bank”. This however – continues the leader of FdI – “has not always happened”, thus generating “profitable records by many banking institutions”.
The minimum wage
Despite the openings of the last few days, the premier is cold on the minimum wage. “Why didn’t we accept the minimum wage proposal as it is presented? If I established by law a minimum hourly wage for everyone, then the minimum wage could risk being lower than the contractual minimum stipulated. The paradox is that it would risk becoming a substitute and not an additional parameter, making wages much worse than those who improve them “, argues Meloni. However, the premier reiterates that “in the coming days we will open a discussion with the opposition to understand if there is room for presenting a serious proposal together on low wages. The issue is close to our hearts”.
The reaction of the oppositions
But Meloni’s words infuriate the opposition. “What is Meloni’s strategy, convening the meeting and then looking for the accident to blow it up?” Ask sources from the Democratic Party. Riccardo Magi, secretary of Più Europa, wrote on Twitter: “If there is the will to open up to our proposal, fine, otherwise we won’t give this government a platform to be able to say ‘look how good we are’. If there is a real desire for dialogue, Friday’s meeting is welcome. Otherwise, if there should be only a confrontation, it would be better to meet again in Parliament and see who wants the minimum wage and who doesn’t”. “The premier’s video looks like a provocation”, they attack Angelo Bonelli e Nicola Fratoianni of the Left Green Alliance. “Continuing to argue that the minimum wage will also bring down other employment contracts – they underline – means saying something false or demonstrating that even the Prime Minister, like many before her, has not read our proposal which instead supports and strengthens collective bargaining. If President Meloni has summoned the opposition with great fanfare to reiterate her no to the minimum wage law, then the question arises spontaneously. What did you summon us to do?”.
And the leader of the 5 Star Movement, Joseph Conte, argues: “Meloni reiterates that she is against the legal minimum wage, using unfounded and laughable arguments to justify her stubbornness. Above all, the one on the basis of which the minimum wage would lower wages. A full-blown fake news, which demonstrates how the prime minister has not read a single line of our proposal. Which is clear: if a collective agreement provides for a wage for a worker of 5 euros an hour, with our proposal that wage rises to 9. If it provides for 11 euros an hour, it stays at 11. It certainly doesn’t go down to 9″. And he concludes: “At this point we understand how the meeting on Friday promises to be uphill. The Government does not seem to want to budge from its prejudices. We do not stop”.
He also points the finger at the Prime Minister Charles Calenda. “It would be useful to keep your tone low before the meeting on the minimum wage – writes the leader of Azione on Twitter – I understand that sitting around a table together, without prejudices and preconceptions, is difficult for everyone. I understand that the temptation to remain closed in their respective trenches is reassuring. I understand that the ‘comfort area’ of politics is the clash and not the meeting. But seeking an agreement is an act of responsibility towards the country and 3.5 million working poor. Let’s try with good will.”
The abolition of the basic income
In his video Meloni also spoke about the cut in the basic income. “The revocation, it has been said, took place overnight, a bolt from the blue. This is false”, defends the prime minister. “What we did – he continues – was not only written in the centre-right programme, but was also included in the Budget law which was passed last December”. According to Meloni “we need to clarify: the disabled do not forgive it, as is It has been written. Those over 60 do not lose it. Those with dependent minor children do not lose it. Not even those with particularly fragile conditions. All these people, unlike what has been said instrumentally, continue to receive the Income until the end of the year and then they will switch to the inclusion check”. And she concludes: “The government does not intend to go back on its steps in terms of basic income, our great goal remains that of moving from basic income to employment income”.
The processes
“We have approved a law that avoids any uncertainty in the processes and which allows us to prevent open processes for crimes linked to the mafia from ending up in nothing”, he said referring to the provision approved a few days ago in the council of ministers. The government – he added – is determined to defeat the cancer of organized crime”.
He Pnrr
“Italy in 2023 will benefit from 35 billion from the Pnrr”, assures the prime minister. “The EU confirms that at the end of the year it will have all the resources provided, pace of those who hoped it would lose them or lose part of them”. “We are very satisfied – he added – with these results obtained, we promised that the Italy would not have lost a euro, that things would have gone well, our progress and efforts are recognized and if someone is annoyed that Italy has these successes, we will continue not to spare ourselves”.