M5S ends the era of refunds Now almost all the money goes to the party – Corriere.it

Another totem falls, the Five Stars prepare to say goodbye to refunds. Almost. The rumors of a change of pace on the internal rules governing the sums of money that the starred parliamentarians are deducted from their salaries to donate them to support public projects, such as the microcredit fund or the National Research Council, are increasingly insistent. The Movement ready to launch new rules that mark a turning point. The starred according to the hypotheses that filter are working on a triple track: the allowances for office (which should be received for the first time by the starry, but largely returned to the party), the end-of-term allowance monthly donations from MPs in charge. And above all this last point to create havoc.

Between 2013 and 2018, making its debut in Roman palaces, each M5S parliamentarian returned about 2500 euros a month, a figure also maintained in the following legislature. Indeed, between 2018 and 2022 the sum was “canonized”, became a lump sum without the age-old problem of supporting receipts that had characterized the first starred parliamentary course. And the compensation was then divided: 1,000 euros to the association that governs the party and 1,500 to the fund for community initiatives. Now, according to rumors, the fee for the party could double. Two ways. There are those who argue that 2,000 euros will go to the Movement while another 500 will be allocated to projects for the community (but the residual amount could be destined for M5S-branded initiatives in some way. Another way – which according to theAdnkronos would be prevailing – it provides for a single payment of 200 euros per month to the party: it would then be the top management who would decide which sums to allocate to “refunds”.

Hypotheses under consideration, which are accompanied by those circulated on the end-of-term check, with the parliamentarians “obliged” to return only 20% of the amount (Alessandro Di Battista in 2018 returned 100%, or 43 thousand euros for a five-year term in Montecitorio). A move that would allow a substantial “saving” to many big names, cut off from the two-term ceiling rule and which, at the same time, would lighten the work of the board of arbitrators, called to sanction any “defections” in restitutions. “The lower the amount, the easier it will be to receive numerous donations”, the reasoning of a starred. But the news is already causing internal discussion. Some blurt out: “In practice, of our historical rules, only the bond of the two mandates remains standing, but not so much for an identity reason but in my opinion as a ploy to free themselves from the ballast, that is to those who are anchored to the old idea of ​​​​the Movement” .

Meanwhile, sifting through the list of donations received by the M5S in September, the absences of many outgoing parliamentarians stand out. But there are also new faces. And above all an important economic support – 10 thousand euros – from those who had been included by Giuseppe Conte in his list: from Chiara Appendino to Federico Cafiero De Raho, to Livio De Santoli (who was not elected) to Stefano Patuanelli.