Italian House Speaker Laura
Boldrini on Tuesday hailed the passage of salary cuts for
parliament personnel as "unprecedented".
"Today we, the Senate and the Chamber, have taken an
unprecedented decision together," Boldrini said on her Facebook
page.
"We have approved the reform of personnel salaries, which
will bring a savings of 97 million euros over four years".
"We have done it to reinforce the institution (of
parliament), also bringing the salaries in line with the
country, in the light of the grave (economic) crisis we are
going through".
Italian parliamentarians and their personnel have been
harshly criticized for overly generous salaries in recent years,
especially given major public spending cuts to fix the country's
finances and Italy's large public debt.
Stefano Dambruoso of the centrist Civic Choice (SC) party
abstained from the vote, complaining that the measure did not go
far enough.
Dambruso said the salary reform still ensures a 2.5% raise
every two years, and that compensation would remain
disproportionately high even after the cuts compared to European
counterparts.
"Therefore I hope that the cuts can be rediscussed soon and
with greater alignment of Chamber salaries with the European
average," said Dambruoso.
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