The school's staff cuts, just as students take to the streets. Pensions as a reserve from which to draw resources. The tax cut for the middle class only for one year, compared to a flat tax that rises for the self-employed. Insufficient resources for healthcare, which send the Regions into alarm.
The text of the budget law has just become public but has already come under the crossfire of oppositions, unions and local authorities.
And as the start of the budget session approaches, with a 'treasure trove' of 120 million for 2027 for parliamentary changes (another 120 in 2028), Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is not easing the pressure on the banks, opening up to possible further interventions. But what caused controversy following the publication of the measure was above all the squeeze on school staffing. The budget law puts in black and white 4,925 fewer places in the school autonomy budget and 2,049 places in the ATA staff workforce, for a total of 6,974 units. An intervention that generates savings of almost 252 million euros per year starting from 2028. "When there is cash to be raised, the government always knows where to strike: on schools", the Democratic Party goes on the attack. "An absolute disgrace", says the M5s. For Avs it is "the financial company of the rich". And the decision to review the distribution of funds for nursery schools, given the decline in births, is also being discussed.
"The government doesn't open kindergartens, it waits for fewer children to be born", comments the Democratic Party's head of schools Irene Manzi bitterly. Cisl general secretary Daniela Fumarola is also raising a wall against school cuts, asking the government to immediately open a discussion with the union. "Faced with the hardship of the new generations, educational poverty and the growing difficulties of school work, investments and personnel are needed, starting with teachers and ATA and certainly not cuts", he warns. However, the highly critical judgment coming from the CGIL extends to the entire maneuver. With skyrocketing inflation, the loss of purchasing power of wages, and the emergency energy costs, the maneuver "seems to have been written by the government of another country, not to mention another planet", comments Maurizio Landini's union, which is preparing for the strike on 20 November: "Here we are beyond the worst expectations": "decline and impoverishment are accelerating".
The tables of the maneuver also quantify the extent of the new tightening coming on the revaluation of pensions: the cuts to the inflation adjustment, which remains full only for allowances up to 4 times the minimum, translate into savings for the state coffers of 14.2 billion in 10 years (8.5 net of tax effects). "To distribute tips and finance propaganda, the government cuts schools and pensions", comments the Dem group leader in the Senate Francesco Boccia. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini intervenes on the controversy that erupted after the school cuts, defending the "miracles" achieved in recent years by his colleague Valditara, but still open to changes: "if there were any variations and improvements, Parliament is there for that purpose". And precisely during the conversion some new surprises could arrive for the banks, on which the leader of the League remains pressed. "If Parliament deems that something more can be asked for, done, obtained, Parliament is sovereign," he says. The deputy prime minister, however, appears cold on the size of personalized license plates: "If I have to pay more money to have the personalized number plate, I won't pay it. But this is my opinion." Another topic that will enter the parliamentary debate is certainly that of 'dedicated pensions' for the police. After the tragedy that struck the Italian soldiers in Bosnia, for FI it is "a moral imperative to fight to the end" to obtain it, assures the Italian leader Antonio Tajani, who promises: "We will do everything to ensure that it is already included in the article. If necessary - he promises - we will present an amendment during the parliamentary examination".
