Recovery Plan, the EU Commission will whisper a reform on pensions to Italy
After Spain and Germany, also in Italy advice is coming from Brussels on the Recovery Plan to include an intervention on pensions among the reforms. All the details
In Italy it will soon be known that the European Commission will also impose on our country interventions on pensions as part of the desired reforms of the public administration that will have to be included in the Recovery Plan to be submitted to the examination by Brussels.
This is what is being whispered in parliamentary circles by the government majority in view of decay, however, given the now full-blown government crisis.
So far, no public evidence points in this direction for Italy.
But the latest general indications from the European Commission are unequivocal.
BRUSSELS NEWS ON RECOVERY FUND, INCLUDING PENSIONS
The Brussels executive, in fact, has updated the guidelines for accessing the Recovery funds and for Italy the road to EU 209 billion becomes even steeper, Repubblica wrote two days ago : "The new indications apply to everyone countries, but no one in Europe escapes that they are perfectly tailored to the "case of Italy". It is not for nothing that Brussels insists on the need to indicate the reforms that will accompany investments financed by the Union. For Rome it is a question of modernizing the public administration and of justice, but also of provisions on pensions and measures to increase the country's competitiveness ”.
WHISPS AND CRITICISM OF BRUSSELS FOR GERMANY ALSO ON PENSIONS
The chapter on pensions is even explicitly mentioned in Germany, as revealed by the German newspaper Handelsblatt. The criticisms of European officials of the German plan are precise and the first concerns pensions. "Brussels sees a great need for intervention in pension policy", reports Handelsblatt , since a wide range of measures to improve the pension system are still pending. The second point is the abolition of a tax measure, the division of income between spouses (Ehegattensplitting) which, according to European technicians, is a mechanism that discourages people from working longer hours. On this aspect, alternatives are also suggested from Brussels, such as tax relief for lower incomes. The third point refers to the liberalization of some professions that are still too regulated: the recommendations of Brussels explicitly mention the crafts sector and architects.
THE BRUSSELS LIGHTHOUSE OVER SPAIN
Brussels actually is watching very closely on Recovery also Spain, where it estimated that the economy contracted by 12.4% in 2020, wrote the Spanish newspaper El Pais : "Gentiloni stated that, just like other countries , Spain is asked for "a strong commitment" to reforms through specific objectives that require regular progress reports. There are three areas of reform that are of particular interest to Brussels: the labor market, pensions and market unity ”.
PENSION REFORM IN SPAIN ACCORDING TO THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels is watching Spain very closely, where it estimated the economy contracted by 12.4% in 2020, wrote the Spanish newspaper El Pais : "Gentiloni said that, just like other countries, Spain is being asked “A strong commitment” to reforms through specific objectives that require regular progress reports. There are three areas of reform that are of particular interest to Brussels: the labor market, pensions and market unity ”.
WHAT BRUSSELS SAYS ABOUT THE SPANISH RECOVERY PLAN
The EU Commission is very interested in the Spanish pension system, but reaching an internal agreement on this issue will be more difficult, El Pais remarks: "There is an internal battle for the commitment of the socialist partner in the Spanish government to increase the number of years social security contributions (from 25 to 35 years) to calculate pensions. Unions are threatening action against the move and the government has summoned union leaders to a meeting on Tuesday to explain its plans prior to the handover in Brussels.
THE POLITICAL DEBATE IN SPAIN
In essence, a white-hot political clash broke out in Spain within the majority led by Pedro Sanchez. Welfare Minister Jose Luis Escrivà states that extending the pension calculation period to 35 years – thereby causing an automatic reduction in the allowance – is a measure requested by the Commission to obtain funds from the Next Generation EU (NgEU) but that these are necessary measures in any case, the newspaper La Verità reconstructed.
THE COMMENT OF THE ANALYST LITURRI
The analyst Giuseppe Liturri commented on the newspaper founded and directed by Maurizio Belpietro: “Podemos, partner of the government coalition, has already declared that those rules will not pass, as they are not part of the government agreement that governs the coalition. This happens to Spain, whose plan was presented to the Eurogroup on Monday as an example to be imitated and which explicitly provides for an "extension of the period for calculating pensions", despite the scrambling of Minister Escrivà ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/recovery-plan-pensioni-italia/ on Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:12:43 +0000.