Government blue-car fleet to be scaled down

(ANSA) - Rome, December 18 - Italy's public administration is to begin the next stage in shedding its executive fleet of cars - commonly known as 'auto blu' - from early 2015 under a cabinet decree made public on Thursday.
    Under the decree, no ministry, police or military corps, governmental agency or other central administrative body can have more than five official cars, with the exact number depending on the number of employees. The only exception applies to the premier and cabinet ministers, who can have access to an executive vehicle for their "exclusive" use and only while in cabinet. Further, the timetable for downsizing is determined by the size of the current fleet, with administrative bodies with fewer executive vehicles having to get rid of them earlier.
    The Italian government's pool of chauffeured cars fell by 33% between the end of 2011 and last autumn, according to research by the public administration department.
    It found that since the government began cracking down in 2012, the numbers had fallen to 5,768 at the beginning of August from original levels of 8,619.
    The siren-blaring cars often irk motorists and pedestrians as they halt traffic around Italy and had become an embodiment of what many see as the undeserved privileges of government officials and public-sector managers.
    Premier Matteo Renzi has said he wants to create a leaner and more efficient state apparatus, and the further reduction of autos will be completed by the end of 2015. The cars that are eliminated will be sold or donated to charities operating in the social or health sectors.
    Up to 50% of the savings made by reducing the number of vehicles will be used to cover the cost of taxi vouchers for public officials who no longer have access to the auto blu.
    The decree also sets out the conditions of use for the remaining cars, which can only be used during hours of service and not to travel from home to work, for example.
    It also encourages car sharing, both in relation to the use of executive vehicles and to travel by taxi. The cabinet decree enacts the reduction in the state executive fleet set out in a law passed in late June that also contained the much-trumpeted 80 euro tax bonus for low wage earners.