'Stop the slogans, help jobless,' says bishops

(ANSA) - Rome, September 26 - A senior member of the powerful Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) on Friday called on Italian politicians and unions alike to drop the slogans and instead focus efforts on solving such enormous problems as Italy's high rate of unemployment.
    Monsignor Nunzio Galantino, secretary general of the CEI, said his call was not intended as political commentary but was instead a call to arms for social justice through sound policy that puts people first, with a focus on labour, education and training.
    That means less sloganeering and "flag-waving" around such controversial issues as Premier Matteo Renzi's new Jobs Act, which some MPs and union leaders say will undermine labour protections in Article 18 of the existing labour law.
    The issue has dominated headlines and political debate for weeks, but that is distracting attention away from a necessary shift in priorities towards ordinary families and concrete solutions, warned Galantino.
    "The Church thinks that it's necessary to look at the people who don't have jobs and are looking for work, with more realism," he said. "The debate about 'Article 18 yes or Article 18 no' is less central and I see too much flag waving," when politicians should be tackling the problems facing ordinary people, said Galantino.
    "Our impression is that it's necessary to redesign the political agenda, making the family, jobs, training and schools the priority, not by making announcements, but really addressing the issues".
    Italy is now in its third recession in six years, with the jobless rate at 12.6% generally and almost 43% among youth under 25 years.
    Some critics have complained that Renzi, who was sworn in last February, spends too much time on media sound bites and announcements of reforms, but has not yet been able to turn around the recession-hobbled Italian economy.
    Galantino said he was not taking political sides.
    "It's not a question of whether you like Renzi or not," Galantino told a press conference. "You have to ask people if answers are being found".
    In response, Lorenzo Guerini, deputy secretary of Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD), said that Italian bishops have issued "an important appeal to all political actors".
    The government "is working to respond with the facts," he added.
    Besides employment, education and training also demand a long-term commitment to funding that will not be promised now and later clawed back for something new, said Galantino.
    "Schools require an intervention which cannot be that the government is fielding," he said.
    "It shouldn't be reduced to slogans. The schools and training sectors have become a sort of ready-to-use cash machine, so that you (politicians) know where to get money from".