Premier Matteo Renzi said Wednesday
that his proposed reforms and new economic blueprint will arm
Italy with the credibility it needs in dealing with the European
Union, while at the same time, opposition leaders denounced what
they said was strictly a political document.
Renzi suggested he is carrying out a new wave of efforts,
including reforms to a range of key institutions as well as a
major economic plan for the coming years that he said will help
Italians by boosting growth and tax fairness, while improving
political stability through changes to election rules.
Only after all this can Italy try to reform European Union
austerity rules, Renzi said.
"We want to change Europe's rules...but until we have
changed the Senate, the labour market and the civil service,
what credibility can we take to Europe to demand change?" he
asked.
Renzi also took to Twitter early in the day to claim that
his three-year blueprint - the Economic and Financial Document
(DEF) - "maintains all the commitments we had made in the face
of the ill-wishers".
The premier also confirmed that he is forging ahead with
reforms to make Italy easier and cheaper to govern, including
the transformation of the Senate into a leaner assembly of
local-government representatives with blunted law-making powers.
Renzi reiterated that he intended to have the first reading
of the reform bill, which will also complete the elimination of
Italy's provincial councils and return some powers to central
government from the frequently overspending regional
administrations, before European elections on May 25.
His DEF, approved Tuesday by cabinet, includes plans for
annual income-tax cuts of 10 billion euros targeting low
earners, a cap on the salaries of top public-sector managers and
higher capital-gains tax for banks.
Renzi - who unseated Enrico Letta, his colleague in the
centre-left Democratic Party (PD), to become Italy's youngest
premier at 39 in February - said the tax cuts will mean an extra
80 euros in the monthly pay packets of low earners.
To finance the income-tax cuts, the government needs to
find around 6.7 billion euros in savings for the remainder of
this year.
He said around 4.5 billion euros will come from savings
generated by a review of public spending.
Approximately another 1 billion euros will be raised by
making the country's banks pay higher taxes on their stakes in
the Bank of Italy, with the rest coming from sales tax revenues,
Renzi said.
Opposition politicians were swift to denounce Renzi's
economic blueprint Wednesday, suggesting the document was pure
politics providing little concrete help for working Italians.
"Take from the poor to give to Renzi," was the headline on
a post on the blog of Beppe Grillo, a comedian-turned-politician
who heads the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S).
Grillo and other M5S deputies said that changes to tax
deductions for dependent spouses will more than wipe out any
benefits from Renzi's tax-cut pledge.
Meanwhile, centre-right politician Renato Brunetta, House
whip for the Forza Italia (FI) party founded by ex-premier
Silvio Berlusconi, criticized the fundamental growth and deficit
assumptions used by Renzi.
The document is designed to promote Renzi's centre-left
Democratic Party (PD) in next month's elections for the European
Parliament, added Brunetta in an interview with Sky TG24
television.
"He's on the campaign trail, he wants to win the European
elections to be legitimate, since he seized power (from Letta)
in a palace coup," said Brunetta, adding that Renzi talks too
much - "about four or five hours every day".
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