On the minimum wage, the majority trolls the opposition

The center-right did well to deposit a suppressive amendment of the eight articles with which the oppositions (except Italia Viva) would like to introduce the legal minimum wage of nine euros. The bill signed by Giuseppe Conte, Elly Schlein, Nicola Fratoianni, Angelo Bonelli, Matteo Richetti and Riccardo Magi is not a real attempt to address a problem that deserves far more attention. The limits of that attempt have been mentioned several times: from the confusion over the extension of the contractual minimums to the imposition of a threshold by law up to the determination of a value (nine euros, in fact) which would be the highest in Europe and among the highest in the world, as a proportion of the median wage. This way of proceeding risks having as its objective not the wage question, but a much more limited objective. That is, to engage Giorgia Meloni in the ring whoever shoots the highest amount, knowing full well that, if the opposition has no constraints, the majority cannot afford to green light a law that could push hundreds of thousands of workers into unemployment or the submerged. In other words, the centre-left had not begun a political battle, but raised an electoral banner with which it hoped to embarrass the government between now and the 2024 European elections. The centre-right, out of cowardice, could have hesitated, finding itself caught between a proposal inadmissible and the lit match to lower the nine euros. Instead, he had a good time denouncing the impracticability of the proposal, also having a non-minority part of the union at his side. So the majority calls the bluff and the opposition has no choice but to lower the flag, of which only a few tired protests will remain. Schlein & Co missed an opportunity to corner the government, because they offered the centre-right an easy way out, while at the same time giving the impression that they had nothing in common except superficial slogans. They set out to troll and ended up being trolled.