hard right Brothers of Italy (FdI)
party leader Giorgia Meloni, who is poised to become Italy's
first post-fascist and first woman premier after the September
25 general election, said Wednesday that one of her first moves
would be to repeal the 'citizenship wage' basic income benefit
which she said had been a "total failure".
The basic income was a flagship policy of the populist 5-Star
Movement (M5S), whose then leader, Foreign Minister Luigi Di
Maio, said "we have abolished poverty" with the measure.
FdI was the only party to vote against it, Meloni noted with
pride.
Meloni said in a Facebook video Wednesday: "the basic income has
been a total failure, despite it having for the State an
exorbitant cost of around nine billion euros a year.
"Drawing a merciful veil over the thousands and thousands of
frauds it has generated - also favouring criminals, mafiosi and
drug pushers - it has failed as an instrument for fighting
poverty which was supposed to have been abolished and instead
has reached an all-time high, and it has failed as a measure of
active employment policy, seeing that very few of its recipients
have been hired in the end and have found dignified work."
Se said the "just State" that she and her allies would usher in
would "create jobs for everyone".
Meloni is running at the head of an alliance with nationalist
League party leader Matteo Salvini and centre-right Forza Italia
(FI) leader and three-time former premier and media magnate
Silviio Berlusconi.
The coalition is forecast to get a clear majority in both houss
of parliament after September 25, and Meloni as the biggest vote
getter would become premier.
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