Wednesday,
August 01, 2007
"La Casta"
Expose Fuels Outrage re Italian Political Salary, Expense, Pensions, etc
The
ANNOTICO Report
Popular outrage against MPs' perks has been fueled
in recent months by the publication of "La Casta"
a best-selling book by two journalists, Sergio Rizzo and Gian Antonio
Stella, which describes the manifold privileges of a deeply entrenched
political class.
Looking at the comparative
Italian Political Salaries, Expenses,Severance
Packages, Pensions, etc, ad nauseam with other European countries, conjures up
the typical politician gorging at the trough of public funds,
to do the public's work, and then being rewarded by lobbyists for corporate
interests , ...no to !!!!
Italians Bridle at High
Cost of Political Class
MSNBC
FromFinancialTimes
By
July
30, 2007
The Palazzo del Quirinale
costs EU 235m ($320m) a year to run - twice as much as the White House and
four times as much as Buckingham Palace - mainly in salaries for more than
2,000 civilian and police employees.
Last week the Italian parliament's upper and lower
houses, home to
Days
earlier, the government announced cost-cutting measures in political
institutions across
Popular outrage against MPs' perks has been
fuelled in recent months by the publication of La Casta,
a best-selling book by two journalists, Sergio Rizzo and Gian Antonio
Stella, which describes the manifold privileges of a deeply entrenched
political class.
"We estimate that between 600,000 and 700,000
people in
A deputy's basic salary, before tax, health
insurance and pension payments, is EU 11,703 per month. A British MP earns EU
7,450, his German colleagues EU 7,009, a member of
Italian MPs receive about another EU 10,000 per
month, mostly fixed sums for hypothetical expenses, whether they are
incurred or not. They only pay tax on the basic salary and there is a princely
end-of-mandate severance payment. After only 30 months of service, they
receive a lifelong pension from the age of 60 or 65, depending on
seniority. Today, for every active MP there are three on a pension.
The annual cost of Italy's parliament is the
highest in Europe.
The estimate for 2007 is EU 1,465m compared with EU 845m in France, EU 644m in
Silvana Mura, an MP for the centrist, militantly
reformist Italia Dei Valori party, says:
"Parliament must absolutely reduce its costs to those of other European
parliaments. We receive money without having to justify it. Money
for expenses that many MPs do not incur.
"It is our duty to
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