Lower House Speaker Roberto Fico on
Monday gave the chamber's quaestors 15 days to come up with a
process leading to a proposal on "overcoming" the present system
of 'vitalizi' parliamentary pensions.
Fico is from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S),
which has long vowed to scrap vitalizi, seen as an unacceptable
perk.
"Politics should make sacrifices first," Fico said.
"We must recognise that after the (pension) reforms of the
last few years, the widespread feeling in the country is that
the political class has asked citizens for sacrifices without
being disposed to make them itself, first.
"We cannot remain inert", he said.
"One of the first directions we must move in is a reform of
the vitalizi which former MPs enjoy".
Among other things, Fico said, the review will have to look
at moving to a contributions-based system and carefully assess
any impact on the lowest vitalizi.
It should also consider setting a ceiling so that vitalizi
will not rise and assess vitalizi for former MPs who have been
convicted of criminal offences, he said.
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