Working class sections in Italy continue to protest the decision by the Giorgia Meloni-led right-wing government to end the Citizens’ Income social welfare scheme for poor families. On Monday, August 28, protest demonstrations were organized in cities including Naples, Cosenza, and Palermo, among others, on a call given by the network of committees for the defense and extension of Citizens’ Income. Groups including Potere al Popolo, Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), and Communist Youth Front (FGC), participated in the protests and denounced the cuts. Protestors also reiterated their demand for raising the minimum wage to €10 (USD 10.91) per hour in the country. In Naples, security forces tried to block the protestors, leading to clashes.
The Citizens’ Income scheme was introduced in 2019 targeting households with a monthly income less than the poverty line figure of €780 (USD 851.21). It provided a sum of up to €780 (USD 851.21) for single people and €1,300 (USD 1,418.69) for a family with two children, benefiting millions of poor households, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis which peaked with the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Meloni government, which has been critical of the scheme since the beginning, has decided to replace it with two new schemes by January 2024—an Inclusion Cheque exclusively reserved for households with underage, elderly, or disabled family members, and a monetary aid scheme for vocational training of unemployed persons who don’t come from families receiving the Inclusion Cheque benefits. The new policy will effectively exclude thousands of families from social welfare. With this, the government aims to reduce the existing welfare spending on poor families by €2.5 billion (USD 2.73 billion). On the other hand, the government has been continuing its financial and military assistance to the Zelensky regime in Ukraine, which has outraged working class sections and common people across Italy.
On August 28, Maurizio Acerbo from the leadership of the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC) and Unione Popolare, said that “the cuts in citizens’ income and the total absence of prospects for work placement leave no choice: popular mobilization will need to be intensified, which has been going on in Naples for several weeks.”
