Labour Minister Marina Calderone on
Wednesday accused opposition parties of drumming up unrest over
the government's phasing out of the 'citizenship wage' (RdC)
minimum-income benefit.
Some 159,000 families in Italy were told by text message that
their RdC was being cut last week, sparking concern about what
will happen to the people losing their welfare cheques amid
confusion about the benefits that will replace the citizenship
wage.
Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein on Monday accused the
government of waging "war on the poor" with its actions.
"This government is using every hour of its time, via work
incentives and support for our most fragile fellow citizens, to
combat and reduce the social unrest that some are blowing on in
an attempt to build discontent," Calderone told a question time
session in parliament.
Premier Giorgia Meloni says the RdC failed because it took away
jobless people's incentive to seek work and was too susceptible
to fraud.
Two new benefits are coming in, but there is confusion about the
application procedures and when payments will arrive.
The new benefits are the inclusion cheque (ADI), worth a maximum
of 500 euros a month per individual, for households in which
there are minors, disabled people or people over 60; and the SFL
benefit of up to 350 euros a month for people who are fit for
work, payable for a maximum of 12 months.
Calderone said that 112,000 of the 159,000 people who got the
text messages could engage in training pacts to be eligible for
the SFL and 35% of them were already engaged in programmes that
would enable them to have it from the start of September.
Ex-premier Giuseppe Conte, the leader of the 5-Star Movement
(M5S), said there was "anger and social confusion" over the
abolition of the RdC.
"You are leaving social workers and councils on their own and
you are the only ones responsible," said Conte.
"You are consciously splitting the country in two.
"You misled these people about replacing the RdC with training
courses, you insulted them by calling them layabouts, but after
eight months you haven't done anything about this.
"We have found out that you are the ones who don't want to work.
You are the layabouts".
The RdC was the flagship measure of the M5S and it was brought
in during the first of Conte's two governments in 2019.
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