The far-right government has decided to scrap aid to millions of poor people and replace it with a more limited-size check. The opposition and trade unions denounce a “provocation”.
Everyone has their own idea of May Day. Italy’s far-right government has chosen Workers’ Rights Day to abolish “citizenship income” during an extraordinary council of ministers this Monday, May 1, aid that will benefit millions of poor people. In its place is a limited-range “inclusion check,” a decision the opposition and unions have dubbed a “provocation.” The ultra-conservative executive around Giorgia Meloni also voted to ease hiring on fixed-term contracts and a one-year exemption from employer’s contributions for companies that hire an “integration check” recipient on a permanent contract or as an apprentice.
While the “Citizenship Income” was intended for anyone on a very modest income – including young people – the “Inclusion Check” will be reserved for families with people with disabilities, minors or over 60s. For its defenders, the “citizenship income” is a proven social shock absorber in the precarity-hit southern regions, while it is expensive for the state (€8 billion in 2022) and keeps its beneficiaries out of the labor force. Giorgia Meloni’s services have not published the final text, but its main lines have leaked in the press and the replacement of one aid with another must come into force next January 1st.
One million people lifted out of poverty
The aim is to stimulate employment and encourage young people to work in the eurozone’s third largest economy, where the unemployment rate for 15-24 year olds (22.4% in February) is almost three times the national average ( 8th %). “We are reforming the citizenship income to make the difference between able-bodied and unable-to-work,” Giorgia Meloni said. The “inclusion check” is capped at 500 euros per month (630 euros for households with people over 67 years of age or with a severe disability), plus 280 euros for households without their own apartment. It lasts 18 months and can be extended by a year after a month’s absence.
The government has also announced the establishment of a professional “employment access tool”: for people who are able to work, participation in training courses or “non-profit projects” will be compulsory from September, subject to compensation of a maximum of 350 euros per month for one year. The costs for the state are estimated at 2.1 billion euros in 2024.
According to Italy’s Institute for Statistics (Istat), the “citizenship income” introduced by the five-star government in 2019 has lifted a million people out of poverty, although about half of the poor do not receive it, partly because they are not eligible (Less than 10 years of residence in the territory) or because they have not applied for it. In 2022, 1.6 million households with almost four million people, mainly in the south of the country, benefited from an average grant of 550 euros, according to the INPS.
“Desecrating May Day”
The opposition and trade unions sharply criticized the government for convening a Council of Ministers on these issues on May 1 of all days, “a provocation”, according to former Chamber of Deputies President Roberto Fico. “A serious government does not meet on May Day to sentence young people to a lifetime of insecurity and dashed their dreams of homes and children. It is meeting to introduce a statutory minimum wage,” said former five-star Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
For the newspaper La Repubblica, Giorgia Meloni wanted, by “breaking with the left’s secular calendar, to demystify and desacralize May Day” and “challenge the social hegemony of trade unions over the world of work”. Giorgia Meloni defended in a press release “on the contrary, a beautiful signal and a privilege to honor the workers on this day of celebration and to give the answers that await them”.