«Subsidies for large families and those with sick people, new allowances for the elderly»- Corriere.it

During these first six months of government Meloni, on the table of the Minister of Labor and Social Policies Marina Calderone some of the most delicate “dossiers” for the country have ended: from basic income to social security, passing through fair compensation and contracts. “Each dossier corresponds to rights, protections, the future of millions and millions of families – recalls Calderone – For this reason we try to face the problems with balance and foresight”.

There is no Italian family on which the decisions of his dicastery do not impact. The first intervention was on the elderly. Is it a coincidence?
«It is no coincidence, because ours is a country that is rapidly aging. This is one of the achieved objectives of the Pnrr. The measures for home assistance allow the non self-sufficient not to have to leave their own home. And we are working to strengthen the allowance for the elderly and the implementing decrees which will allow us to change the face of assistance».

Speaking of the elderly, it is easy to think also of the management of the pension system. Will there be reform?
«The reform of the pension system embraces the competences of several departments and not just that of Labour. The sustainability of the system is a central theme and requires careful assessments of the resources to be used and the paths to be activated. In this regard, for the evaluation of the impact of social security and welfare expenditure, we have reconstituted the Observatory for social security expenditure which will have the task of elaborating analyzes and proposals to be shared with Parliament and the social partners”.

From the elderly to the young, another age group in pain. What measures for them?
«In the forthcoming work decree, we thought about their entry into the world of work both by facilitating the intersection between supply and demand – which has never worked well in a uniform way on the national territory – and by encouraging companies to hire them. But we also need to intervene on apprenticeship, which needs to work better in order to be useful”.

It goes without saying that so far much of the attention has been focused on the debate for changes to the Citizenship Income. Is there a reduction in the number of beneficiaries?
« Far from it. These are interventions that are the result of a global vision, so they must all be evaluated together when they are official. I can certainly say that the goal is not to exclude anyone from State initiatives which, however, must aim not at assistance as an end in itself, but at getting the greatest number of people to work. The mistake in the past was to want to manage passive and active policies with the same measure».

Is the hypothesis of a reduction in the number of beneficiaries of the subsidy completely unfounded?
«Of course, indeed in detail, we plan to expand the number of families in fragile conditions, such as those with very seriously ill family members. And on the active policies front we are creating the conditions for the unemployed to find employment in the jobs that exist in Italy. Just take a tour of our cities to see examples of how the search for personnel is widespread throughout the national territory».

You come from the world of the professions and have never hidden that you put self-employment and subordinate work on the same level. It is no coincidence that the law on fair compensation, which has been awaited for years in the professional world, was approved.
«It is article 1 of our Constitution that makes no difference between the way of carrying out the work activity. Having been part of the professional world for decades has taught me the many values ​​that are inherent in a professional and which I now translate into my ministerial activity. Loyalty, respect for the law and the rules, professionalism are fundamental to my way of working. The law on fair compensation is a first step towards broader protections for self-employed workers».

However, a part of the self-employed expected more, is it legitimate to expect other changes?
«It can be improved, also thanks to the discussion tables with the representative bodies of the professions that I started as soon as I took office».

And then there are more measures to come…
«Certainly, we have used these months to thoroughly study the useful and necessary modifications. Some are envisaged in the work decree, such as the one on the extreme rigidity of fixed-term contracts; that is, the one on the transparency decree, a useless bureaucratic complication. But many other simplifications will intervene in the bill, also in the definition phase. We are fully convinced that bureaucratic burdens are one of the heaviest burdens in running a company”.

Imagining yourself in a medium-term time frame, what world of work are you trying to achieve?
«Inclusive, simple, fair, supportive. Starting from the assumption that any good decree alone does not create jobs unless accompanied by a growing economy”.

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