Bringing the minimum pensions to one thousand euros would cost a total of 31.2 billion. This is what the Observatory of Italian public accounts led by Carlo Cottarelli, now leading candidate in the lists of the Democratic Party in Milan for the Senate, reveals on the proposal put forward by Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi.
«On the basis of INPS data (relating to 2020) – reads a study by the Observatory – pensioners with an income up to the minimum treatment (515.58 euros) are 2.1 million; those up to twice the minimum (between 515.59 and 1031.16 euros) are 3.8 million.
The simulation
If the retirement income of all minimum pension recipients were to be raised to 1,000 euros (already revalued starting from November 2022 by 2.2 per cent due to the Aid Bis Decree of the Draghi government), the cost of the reform would be about 19 , 5 billion. Adding retirees with an income up to twice the minimum (most of whom have retirement income of less than 1,000 euros) “the bill rises to 31.2 billion”.
From the 2020 data, which are the most recent, the Observatory finds that “pensioners under € 1,031.16 are 37% (6 million) against a number of pensions equal to 64% (14.5 million)”.
“This – we read – is probably linked to the fact that different pensions accumulate in the retirement income, mainly welfare pensions, which place the pensioner in higher income classes than the lower ones in which the single pension was positioned”. «The pensioners – analyzes the Observatory – with pension income up to the minimum treatment (515.58 euros) were about 13% (2.1 million) with an average gross annual income of 3.791 euros; those with pension income equal to twice the minimum (between 515.59 and 1031.16 euros) were 24% (3.8 million) with an average annual amount of 9,608.92 euros ».