Cuts to pensions for a few, the Five Star Movement farce is over

The ruling from the Chamber of Deputies' Appeals on the pension reform is expected tomorrow. The appeal, initially filed by approximately 1,300 former MPs, seeks to overturn the resolution pushed by the then Speaker of the Chamber, Five Star Movement member Roberto Fico , which imposed draconian cuts. The Appeals Panel, chaired by Ylenia Lucaselli (FdI), is composed of Ingrid Bisa (Lega), Pietro Pittalis (Forza Italia), Marco Lacarra (Democratic Party), and Vittoria Baldino (M5S). It must be said that the matter has been dragging on for years and is still affected by the lingering effects of Five Star Movement populism.

After their victory in the 2018 elections, the Five Star Movement set two goals: to open Parliament like a "can of tuna " and to crush the privileges of the much-hated "caste" at the grassroots level. A famous photo of Fico , arriving from Naples by train on his first day, took the 85 bus from Termini station to Montecitorio. For the record, however, that was his only bus ride, as the Prefecture later informed him that, as the third-highest ranking official in the state, for security reasons he could not continue to behave like an ordinary citizen. Thus, having put aside his propaganda for the followers of the "one is worth one" diktat, Fico gave his all with resolution number 14 of 2018 on pensions. The measure, in defiance of the most basic rules of the rule of law, provided for the retroactive recalculation of pensions accrued up to 2012 through the contributory system. The measure was intended to result in a €60 million cut between the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. In practice, this goal was never achieved, and instead of savings, it created inequity, discrimination, and a flood of appeals.

To date, the savings achieved between the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate have been less than a fifth of those projected, and only 800 former MPs (about a quarter of the approximately 3,200 former members of parliament affected by the measure) have contributed to them. The unequal distribution of the tax burden has been exacerbated by the unequal treatment of former MPs and former senators. For the latter, the full pension has been reinstated starting in October 2022. As for the "contributory method," it has been forced to apply to benefits already being enjoyed, such as pensions up to 2012. The subsequent change to the rules has resulted in a failure to comply with the basic principle of the contributory method, according to which each beneficiary receives in social security benefits the amount he or she has contributed during his or her service (with reference, of course, to average life expectancy). The application of transformation coefficients referring to a chronological age, which was also artificially determined (both that referring to the age at which the first pension was received, and that conventionally referring to the age reached in the year the resolution came into force), has therefore produced a series of undesirable effects.

The first version of the resolution, which imposed monstrous cuts of up to 90 percent on the oldest members of parliament and those who had been receiving pensions for the longest time, was replaced by a second version following two rulings that drastically reduced savings, placing the entire burden on a minority of younger former parliamentarians, completely exempting the oldest members and no longer taking into account the pensions received up to 2019. This has led to the paradox that former parliamentarians of different ages, who have paid the same contributions and who have the same life expectancy, ultimately receive significantly different amounts. "It's a surreal situation: 40 percent of former parliamentarians have suffered cuts and 60 percent have not," the plaintiffs state. " None of us are against the cuts, of course not, but they must be implemented correctly and not arrogantly. Savings cannot be based on abstruse mechanisms ," the former parliamentarians add, emphasizing the need for "proportional" cuts that affect everyone. Whatever happens tomorrow, the important thing is to put this dark chapter of Five Star Movement populism behind us and restore the rule of law, not the Wild West.

FROM

Paul Comi