Salvinism inspires the German left

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This is nothing new to those following the German political debate. But it's still shocking that the SPD in Germany is forcing the Merz government to adopt the same line on pensions professed and vigorously defended for years by Salvini and Durigon, the undisputed protagonists of all the measures aimed at undermining the Fornero reform. And they remain steadfast in rejecting the automatic increase that will kick in in 2027, with a further three-month increase in the retirement age, to 67 years and three months. In Italy, the pension is reviewed every two years, based on the increase or decrease in average life expectancy. The German SPD has embraced a harder line. A fundamental disavowal of one of the most effective reforms enacted by Social Democratic Chancellor Schröder, when he was a sincere reformist and not the Moscow man he later became.

Between 1998 and 2005, Schröder had to thoroughly reform the entire German welfare system, when Germany was the "sick man of the EU." With the package passed the day before yesterday, the German pension age sustainability requirements, including the chronological age, were frozen for a full six years. Furthermore, a dangerous inflationary mechanism was introduced, because the existing pension benefit was linked to wage increases: any automatic mechanism of this kind creates a spiral that makes it more difficult to address high inflation. Furthermore, the pension benefit was increased for mothers with children born before 1992. But, all this said, there is a huge difference between the German counter-reform and Salvini's. Germany currently has a public debt equal to 62.3 percent of GDP, while Italy's debt-to-GDP ratio is more than double. All pension reforms born out of a desire to win electoral votes are disasters. But some, as in the Italian case, are absolutely irresponsible.

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