'Citizenship wage' basic income launched

(ANSA) - Rome, March 6 - The government's 'citizenship wage' basic income kicked off on Wednesday when the systems to make applications for the new benefit online, via Italian post offices and the nation's network of CAF document-assistance centres were opened.
    There was, however, a problem with the SPID ID code, which enables the public to make online requests to the State, on the official 'citizenship wage' website.
    Clicking on the SPID link gave an error message, initially at least, although the sections for Poste Italiane and the Tim ID access codes were active.
    "Today we are keeping a promise," Deputy Premier and Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio told RTL radio.
"The State is finally taking care of the invisible ones, the people who have been on the outskirts of the country and of the political debate.
"As of today, five million people can potentially have access to this measure.
"It's a revolution. I've worked so much on it".
5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Di Maio added that he plans to take action to resolve the problem of the so-called 'navigators' who work at job centres to help people claiming the benefit get back into work.
"I want to hire 6,000 people at the central level and send them to all of the regions over the next few months to cover the shortcomings at the job centres while the regions hold recruitment procedures," Di Maio said.