“A cowardly move. Melonian austerity will only make tax evaders and corrupt people happy»- Corriere.it

Giuseppe Conte, the government has effectively canceled the Citizenship Income.

«We are not surprised by this cowardly, courageless maneuver, which opens an unscrupulous war on the poor and the least. This is also why I don’t regret having used harsh tones in defense of the Citizenship Income during the electoral campaign: if we hadn’t raised our voice, Meloni would have canceled it already with the start of the new year. Our battle has just begun.”

Fico said he fears for the country’s social stability.

“The government acted with ideological bias. 70.8% of “employable” earners have educational qualifications that do not exceed the eighth grade, 53 thousand are over 60 and 135 thousand are between 50 and 59 years old. How can we think of enhancing the effectiveness of the active policies system in just eight months? The center-right in the Regions has not even managed to spend the funds allocated by my government three years ago to strengthen the employment centres”.

You announced a rally.

«This manoeuvre, contrary to Meloni’s propaganda statements, will plunge the country into recession and increase social injustices. We are also ready to resort to the square, among the various tools that we intend to put in place. The important thing, however, is that there is a daily path – even in the territories – which leads to the construction of a broad social and political coalition, with civil society, associations and the social forces of the country”.

Even the Democratic Party has called a square: will it be a challenge between you?

«There is no challenge between squares and we are not interested in the “political authorship” of a mobilization: we have no performance anxieties. Rather, we want to create a convergence method. The problem is not calling a square, but filling it with content and people. We are open to broad participation with all those forces that will share our strong concerns against this indecent manoeuvre”.

At the Regionals instead?

«For us it is always a question of themes and programmes: we are not interested in leaps forward on candidates or projects calibrated on some political calculation. Anyone who shares the themes and priorities of our agenda is welcome to our table».

Can evoking the square fuel social tensions?

«The square has always been a symbol of political dialectics, the place where citizenship takes a voice. Violent demonstrations must be avoided and above all stigmatized. However, this government is lighting the fuse of social tension: the only violence that can be seen today is in the government’s attack on the least”.

You are very critical with different points of the maneuver. But in Parliament you can do very little.

“I would not say. Our firm opposition to the cash ceiling has already scaled back the initial plan of the right to bring the threshold to 10,000 euros. We will continue to give no respite against a miserable maneuver, which penalizes workers and the middle class and provides for zero investment for businesses. What happened to Meloni who in the pandemic offered bonuses of 1,000 euros per month with one click for everyone? Now, with Italians in crisis due to high prices, he is offering workers an extra 10 euros a month on their paychecks, which is enough for a pizza. Cash is made to the detriment of pensioners by recovering 3 billion euros from pension revaluations right now that we have very high inflation. The new legislation on vouchers will spread a wild precariousness in the tourism and agricultural sectors. More generally, interventions for the high bills are envisaged only for the first three months of the new year. The government seems to overlook that this is not a quarterly, but our country’s financial plan for the whole of 2023. Melonian austerity will only make tax evaders and corrupt people happy”.

The flat tax was voted in 2018 with M5S support.

«But that was an intervention for VAT numbers with more modest revenues, within 65 thousand euros. Extending that regime, with the same rate of 15% also to revenues up to 85 thousand euros, ends up opening up a strong inequality with respect to employees to whom the Irpef brackets up to 43% apply».

The Superbonus has also been reduced.

«Meloni has changed his mind compared to the last legislature. I remind you that, according to authoritative estimates, up to 70% of the public investment linked to the Superbonus falls into the State coffers only considering tax revenues, the measure has contributed 22% to the growth of the GDP and has helped to create almost 1 million jobs, cutting CO2 emissions by 1 million tonnes. Before making decisions and causing damage to the country, it would be good to study ».

The M5S in the EU abstained on an anti-Russia resolution. How come?

“We condemned Putin’s and Russia’s conduct without ifs, ands or buts. Today our efforts are aimed at building a true diplomatic path starting from the protagonism of the European Union. Defining Russia as a terrorist state alienates the parties involved and does not help to recompose the dialogue”.