Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Friday that Italy's Constitutional Court should have considered the cost more carefully before ruling against a 2011 freeze in index-linked rises in some higher State pensions. "The Constitutional Court did not consider the hole (in the budget) created regarding the pensions," Padoan said.
This week the government announced that 3.7 million pensioners will get one-off payments averaging 500 euros in August in response to the sentence. But people with State pensions of over 3,200 euros a month gross will be excluded from the payouts and legal challenges are likely.
The government's plan will cost the State around 2.18 billion euros, compared to estimates that it would cost up to 18 billion to give a full rebate to all pensioners.
"I have the utmost respect for the court's autonomy, but I hope that the interaction between the government and the Attorney General is more fruitful in the future when there are implications for the public finances," Padoan added. When asked about Padoan's comments, Renzi stressed that his government was not challenging the Constitutional Court's authority. "We are working with maximum respect and institutional harmony," Renzi said at the fringes of an EU summit in Riga.
"We have respected the Constitutional Court's decision and now it's a question of working together so that the signs of recovery can grow stronger".
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