Labour and Industry Minister
and Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio has warned that the government
will run into trouble if the flagship policy of his 5-Star
Movement (M5S), the 'citizenship wage' basic income, does not
feature in the 2019 budget law.
"The citizenship wage must enter the budget law," Di Maio
told RAI television late on Tuesday.
"Either it is in there or there will be a serious problem for
this government.
"We'll bring it in. We made a promise to the Italian people".
Di Maio's statement came after Interior Minister and fellow
Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, the leader of the League, the
M5S's government coalition partner, said it should be possible
for people to retire at 62 if they have enough social security
contributions.
The government has said it wants to overhaul the pension
system so that people can retire when their age and their number
of years of social-security contributions add up to 100.
There had been talk of the minimum retirement age being 64 in
this system.
Bringing this down even lower to 62 would make the pension
reform costlier for the State.
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