The anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement (M5S) on Monday presented a bill to cut lawmakers'
salaries by half in the Lower House.
M5S leader Beppe Grillo announced on his blog on Sunday
that Monday would be a "historic' day because of the bill and
called on activists to rally outside parliament on Tuesday to
support the initiative.
Comedian-turned-politician Grillo said halving MPs'
salaries would do more to reduce the cost of Italy's political
class than the government's controversial Constitutional reform
to overhaul the country's institutions, which will be put to a
referendum in December.
"This law could be approved within days and it would make
it possible to save up to 87 million euros a year," Grillo
wrote.
"That is well above the savings estimated in the reform,
but without making the Constitution and the life of all Italian
citizens worse".
M5S parliamentarians pledge to take home less than half of
their base gross salary of over 10,000 euros a month and give
back the rest.
Some 30 M5S MPs are scheduled to talk in favour of the
bill.
Premier Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party is set
to demand that the bill return to the commission stage.
Renzi on Sunday said MPs' pay should be linked to their
attendance records, saying M5S bigwig and Lower House Deputy
Speaker Luigi Di Maio had an attendance record of only 37%.
Di Maio on Monday denied this, saying "the numbers give
the lie" to what Renzi said.
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