Budget, Cisl-Uil: 'The government is evaluating the increase in resources for healthcare'

The meeting at Palazzo Chigi between the government and the trade union organizations on the budget bill ended after nearly two and a half hours. "There's some good news: the cuts to schools are being dropped," reported UIL general secretary Pierpaolo Bombardieri. "The government announced that it will withdraw the intervention on school cuts." "It was a courteous but politically useless meeting. We confirmed our strongly negative judgment on the budget bill, which is unable to address the country's emergencies, which is based on the combination of austerity and rearmament. Which makes money off pensions. This is more than enough to confirm the reasons why the CGIL called the general strike for the 20th," explained CGIL confederal secretary Christian Ferrari. "We contest the overall framework; a completely different economic policy is needed to address the country's problems." "They are continuing to verify the available resources, and all those that prove feasible will be channeled into healthcare," said CISL general secretary Daniela Fumarola. So are further resources possible? "Yes, they are looking into and examining various items; we hope there can be a positive answer on this too." "On healthcare we asked for more investment: Minister Giorgetti said that, also in light of the dialogue with the State-Regions Conference, the government is evaluating putting in additional resources. We will insist on this," said UIL general secretary Pierpaolo Bombardieri. On pension indexation "we were told that they continue to verify and that also through the parliamentary process they will try to give us answers," Fumarola added. "On pension indexation, in particular, we hope that the best possible solution can be found. We pointed out the objective difficulty of the available resources. But precisely because resources are limited, they must be concentrated on interventions that can truly help the people who need them most. Pensioners are not an ATM: we reiterated this clearly to the government. We expect that, even in a context of financial constraints, positive answers can be found for them," she added. Meloni: 'Defense of the middle class and reward for merit, to others the rhetoric of one equals one'"There are those who continue to claim that our fiscal measures are aimed only at the highest incomes. But it is a narrative that forgets, or pretends to forget, the work done in recent years to support lower incomes and strengthen the purchasing power of workers and families," reads a post by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on X. "We explain it with a few numbers: a worker with an income of 30,000 euros, thanks to what this Government has already done with the cut to the tax wedge and the interventions on IRPEF — it is emphasized — has 1,300 euros more net per year in their paycheck. Today we continue on this path, intervening specifically in favor of the middle class. Thanks to what was already done in past years and to the latest change to IRPEF provided for in the 2027 Budget Law, a worker earning 55,000 euros or more will have an overall annual benefit of 1,200 euros." "And, in addition to what has been said — the post continues — for everyone there are many other measures that strengthen actual income: from the tax exemption of fringe benefits, meal vouchers and productivity bonuses, to the strengthening of parental leave, from the increase in the single allowance to the bonus for working mothers with at least two children which, from 2027, is worth 1,200 euros a year on its own." "And while the left keeps thinking about wealth taxes, with the IRPEF reform we continue to lower taxes, rewarding work, merit and sacrifice," it concludes. "The left says that we cut taxes for the rich because in 2027 we extended the 33% IRPEF rate to incomes up to 55,000 euros" and "they are the same ones who call for a wealth tax on the rich," the premier says in a video on social media in which she presents the IRPEF cut in the budget bill. "We need to agree on what we mean by rich, because an income of 55,000 euros is more or less that of a newly hired doctor in a hospital who studied 10 years to get there and works night shifts: for some, is that a rich person to be fleeced? For us, it is the defense of the middle class. We want to reward merit, work, sacrifice: we leave the demagoguery of one equals one to others." Schlein rebuts Meloni: 'We evaluate taxes on the super rich but not against the middle class' Elly Schlein countered Giorgia Meloni's latest video on the budget bill with another video, posted on Instagram. Referring to the premier's attack on the opposition, who accuse her of favoring the richest, the PD leader says: "I just saw a video where President Giorgia Meloni, holed up as usual in her palace, complains that the opposition says her budget bill helps the richest. But someone who earns 55,000 euros is not rich, they are middle class. What she doesn't say is that her budget bill gives away 500 euros even to those earning 200,000, and doesn't say that they are giving away 8,000 euros to VAT-registered businesses earning 100,000 a year and nothing to those earning 20,000 who don't even have an adequate maternity allowance. The parliamentary budget office yesterday clarified that this measure will help 89% of executives and only 1% of workers." Schlein therefore makes a distinction on the 'wealth tax': "Don't worry so much about the opposition, President Meloni. At most, we are discussing making the super rich, the millionaires, pay. But we will not do as they do, we will not raise taxes on the middle class and on those who struggle the most." Renzi: 'Government of incompetents, they increase spending without even realizing it' "Giorgia Meloni keeps saying that it is not true that she has increased the tax burden, contradicted by Istat, by the way. And she keeps saying that it is not true that she has raised taxes. I asked skilled officials from Italia Viva's legislative office to do a precise check. And you know what we discovered? That there are over 700 million euros in additional taxes, to be precise 708. Just read the budget bill that was sent to the Chamber to begin parliamentary discussion. And you find that there are 527 million in additional tax revenues and 182 million in additional non-tax revenues. So, to make a concise tweet: Meloni has raised taxes by over 700 million this year too. The tax burden is over 43%. These are the numbers and no one can dispute them. This Government is not bad, it is worse: it is incompetent. They increase spending without even realizing it." So writes Italia Viva leader Matteo Renzi in his Enews. Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA