News update as of March 28, 2019

Italy/Parliament definitely adopts both the pension reforms and citizens’ income policy. On Wednesday 27 March 2019, upon its final reading, Italy’s Senate approved the decree law that institutes both a citizens’ income (this is a hybrid measure combining elements of an active policy and an effort to tackle poverty), and the ‘Quota 100’ measure enabling retirement at age 62 instead of 67, under the proviso that the future retiree has made at least 38 years of pensions contributions (c.f. article No. 10970). Both measures underwent several modifications during their passage through parliament, with the citizens’ income being most affected. This income allowance (set at a maximum of €780 per month for a single person) comes attached with a series of measures to counter fraud, especially false separations. The income allowance is higher for those with disabled family members. Local authorities will be able to hire 3,000 ‘navigators’ (instead of 6,000 originally) who will temporarily bolster the employment agencies, handling the cases of those in receipt of the citizens’ income and proposing up to three job offers to each recipient, after which any additional job offer paying at least €858 per month will be considered acceptable. Following insistence by the League, eligibility will only accorded to those with at least 10 years Italian residence, the final two of which must be consecutive. Requirements are awkward in order for those from outside the EU to gain eligibility. These candidates will have to produce income and assets statements from their home country as well as a certificate outlining their family composition. These documents then have to be translated into Italian and officially stamped. By 27 March 2019 more than 600,000 applications for the citizens’ income had been lodged (the first batch of payments is expected to take place at the end of April 2019), while 103,000 had applied for the ‘quota 100’ pension.