Anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement (M5S) leader Beppe Grillo said Tuesday Pope Francis
would be happy with a bill filed by the M5S aiming to halve
parliamentary salaries. "This is not a law that cuts, that's a
bad word, a violent word, (it's) an act of good will which the
Church is happy about...Think how happy the Pope would be," said
Grillo as he headed to the Lower House public gallery to follow
the bill's progress. Grillo has a criminal record fro a fatal
car accident that bars him from office. Premier Matteo Renzi's
ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has accused the M5S of
"demagoguery" in proposing the bill, which polls show is highly
popular among the public. Renzi has countered by saying pay
should be proportional to MPs' attendance, saying that M5S
bigwig and House Deputy Speaker Luigi Di Maio has an attendance
record of only 37%, a figure Di Maio denies. The PD is aiming to
scupper the bill by sending it back to the committee stage.
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