The unions were summoned to Palazzo Chigi on Friday 13 November at 9am for a meeting with a government delegation on the budget bill. We learn this from union sources.
Before the battle of the amendments even begins, there are those who are preparing the battle of banners against the maneuver. The protest marks the calendar of tensions: on November 11th the school unions will take to the streets, on the 20th it will be the turn of the CGIL. And even the policemen are threatening to take to the streets for a dedicated social security system that doesn't yet exist. A discontent that from the gates of the institutes and the police headquarters reaches the rooms of the majority, where there is no sign of conciliation on pensions.
The League does not give up on leaving at 64, however in Lombardy it finds itself blocked by Welfare Councilor Guido Bertolaso, who suggests diverting those resources to hospitals. "I believe that today at 64 no one wants to retire anymore, I am an example of this", he observes, dismissing the Northern League flag. The reply from the Lombard Northern League members was sharp: "Before making policy on pensions, Bertolaso should make what he has in charge work."
A social security field on which Forza Italia promises to move also to respond to the men in uniform, with an intervention estimated at 48 million per year. The request would also have found a hearing among the ranks of Fratelli d'Italia, with the Accounting Department tasked with studying a solution.
The first fuse is lit between the school desks: Cisl, Uil, Snals and Anief call workers to the streets on November 11th, on the 16th it will be the turn of the assemblies in the institutes, on the 20th of the Flc CGIL strike with universities and research. Over 14 thousand positions between teachers and ATA lost in three years are targeted, according to the CGIL. The decline in births cannot be responded to by emptying the schools, the unions warn. Lega and FI are open, at least in words, to a "change of direction". Colder FdI. And even the Ance builders present their bill to the government: there is a lack of funds against the high cost of materials and the last Superbonus credits are spread over ten years.
But it is in healthcare that the bill becomes complex: the Regions had asked for an additional 6.5 billion for 2027, the budget puts 2.4 billion in addition to the billion already foreseen. "The blanket, alas, is short", also admits the governor of Lazio and a man of the centre-right, Francesco Rocca, demanding resources and flexibility but postponing "the final judgements" until the end of the process. A caution that is also circulating among the Giorgetti supporters of the League, committed to throwing water on the fire and shielding the Minister of Economy, who has been the target of cross-claims for days.
The uniforms are also making noise, accusing the government of having "betrayed its word" on dedicated social security. "It is not a claim of privilege", explains the secretary of SIULP, Felice Romano, evoking "an unprecedented season of protest". Until the most delicate warning for an executive who has made security a flag: "This time the police will demonstrate in the squares".
The dossier is overseen by FI - under the aegis of the Undersecretary of Defense, Matteo Perego, and Senator Maurizio Gasparri - who will meet the unions on 12 November to defuse the protest, also focusing on the NATO side: military pensions in fact contribute to the integrated defense budget. And the Italian activism also extends to taxation, with the request to correct the exit tax on the super rich who leave the country, limiting it to capital gains accrued in Italy and protecting those who move to the EU.
Instead, it is the defense chapter that offers new ammunition to the opposition. According to Milex, in 2027 military spending will exceed 40 billion for the first time, allocating a record 17.2 billion to armaments. In two years, resources for NATO infrastructure and emergency forces will amount to another 865 million. A maneuver "to be thrown away", the Angelo Bonelli bubble, pointing the finger at the priority given to "weapons" and not "the right to health". A line shared by Elly Schlein and reinforced by Giuseppe Conte: billions can be found for wars, he claims, but not for "life projects".
