Italian parliament spends 37 billion euros

Italian parliament spends 37 billion euros, despite government debt сoncerns…

The Italian parliament did not take any notice of warnings from Brussels, of doom images outlined by financial experts or of earlier agreements with world leaders. The country will spend just EUR 37 billion next year, despite the already gigantic national debt. The two government parties crowed on Monday evening, after which their popularity rose again in their own country on Tuesday.

Matteo Salvini, deputy prime minister and leader of the anti-immigration party Lega, understood why. According to him, Italians appreciate a government that finally offers a counterbalance to the European occupying forces who seek to keep Italy poor. Never again, said Salvini Monday. ‘After we have already proven it on the themes of immigration and security, today we also show our promises in the economic field to be courageous. We actually make change. ‘

This change is as follows: from February onwards, a gigantic reduction in the retirement age will take effect, so that approximately half a million extra Italians will retire next year, some already at the age of 62. In addition, a new social assistance benefit will be introduced in March, which can be up to 780 euros per person per month. In the eyes of some five million poor Italians, that is a huge amount of free money that they owe rectly to the current government. Luigi Di Maio, deputy prime minister on behalf of the populist Five Star movement, said that his party ‘banned poverty’ through this budget.

It is a rhetoric that translates into the polls. Currently, the right-wing populist government is supported by nearly two-thirds of the Italian electorate, compared with 50 percent in the elections earlier this year. This growth is mainly due to an explosive increase in popularity of the Lega of Salvini, which almost doubled in half a year.

Meanwhile, the Italian opposition is doing everything to make comments on all promised Golden Mountains. In this way, they insist on the enormous costs of the new social assistance benefit – over 9 billion euros – which will also increase because many Italians are expected to go black (or continue to work) to claim the benefit.

Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called the budget ‘a disaster’ and almost all prominent politicians of the Democratic Party refer to the facts and figures that the IMF and the European Commission also try to push the Italians to heart. For example, the growth figures predicted by the government on the basis of this budget (1.5 percent in 2019, 1.6 percent in 2020 and 1.4 percent in 2021) are far too rosy.

They also point to possible sanctions by the European Commission (which can impose a fine of up to 3 billion euros) and the forthcoming reaction from the financial markets, which can at the same time make sure that Italian banks will topple and Italians will no longer save any savings. to have.

But facts and figures are much less important in present-day Italy than their interpretation. Because even though all the ingredients for a new financial crisis are present – a big economy whose failure in Europe would be felt in combination with shaky banks, huge debt and a government on collision course – only 38 percent of Italians are against this week. submitted budget. The rest believes: Italy knows better what is good for Italy than those technocrats in Brussels.

On Italian social media, a comparison is now being carried out in which Italy is a 6-year-old child who weighs 100 kilos and continuously asks for more Nutella. And although the doctors (financial markets) say that the prevalence is dangerous, and the child is bullied by all classmates (European member states), dad and mom (Salvini and Di Maio) continue to spread sandwiches with Nutella, which makes the child more and more confident. know: I have the best parents in the world.