Parts of the controversial 2011
Fornero pension reform "should be maintained", centre-right
leader Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday, despite his chief ally's
flagship campaign vow to scrap it totally. "We have gone into
the matter with our economists, some things must be maintained
as they are, with the age for retiring," he said on Raiuno talk
show Porta a Porta. Matteo Salvini, leader of the rightwing
populist League, has long vowed to make scrapping the law his
first act in government. Berlusconi said "we believe it is
correct that the pension age should go up, but with the
contributive system we want to remove all limits, so if someone
wants to retire at 50 he gets the pension he has paid in".
Asked about Berlusconi's plan to keep some "good parts" of the
law, Salvini said earlier this week that "it's no problem
because there are no good parts in it". The reform, named after
former labour minister Elsa Fornero, raises the retirement age
for both sexes to 67 by 2019. Most parties have made campaign
vows ahead of the March 4 general election to let workers in
"heavy" jobs retire earlier, a move that was partially approved
under the last government led by Paolo Gentiloni.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
