Media reported that the cut of the benefit, or so-called citizen’s salary, will affect about 169,000 households, and observers believe that another 80,000 households could have their aid payments suspended by the end of the summer.
The new order will particularly affect southern Italy, traditionally the poorest part of Italy. Naples, for example, has proportionally the highest number of people receiving this benefit.
From today, only households with minors, disabled persons or seniors over 65 will receive the benefit.
Trade unions and activist groups have called for protests against the government’s decision, and demonstrations are already taking place outside social services in several cities in southern Italy. In the municipality of Terasini in Sicily, an unemployed man broke into the mayor’s office on Monday with a can of gasoline in his hands, promising to set fire to the building. He was stopped.
Italian opposition politicians sharply criticized the move by the government of right-wing Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni. Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who introduced the “citizen’s salary” in 2019, called the government’s move an ideological war being fought at the expense of the poor.
Critics fear that abolishing the benefit will lead to social disaster. Anger was also provoked by the way in which the benefit recipients were notified of their cancellation – by text message.
The government wants to significantly reduce the number of people receiving benefits, and right-wing parties believe that this benefit does not encourage those Italians who are able to work to actually do so.
2023-08-01 10:08:19
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