Giorgia Meloni had another fight with Emmanuel Macron. In via della Scrofa they minimize and provide their own version of the reasons for the disputes between ''cousins'' for which the French president would be primarily responsible because he would not tolerate the dynamism of Meloni in Europe and especially in Africa, on the hunt for transformative gas deals Italy in the Mediterranean Energy Hub and of Europe.
Pensions: Italy vs France
If ''I am Giorgia'' had the opportunity to tease her colleague from beyond the Alps (Your Excellency who is glowering at me!) she would have to start a pension speech, under the pretext that both governments have opened one dispute with the unions. However, apparently Macron's troubles they are much more serious than Meloni's. But above all in this very delicate and easily flammable matter, Italy could provide some teaching in France.
Giorgia Meloni has just arrived and has nothing to boast about personally. Reforms (and counter-reforms) they are the work of previous governments, mostly technical or centre-left, but with some recognition due to some centre-right executives.
In short, Meloni would be in a position to respond with a nice one ''it has already been done by us'' to many questions from Macron on the measures that in his opinion would be necessary in France and which are harshly contested, through weekly strikes during which impressive demonstrations are held in the most important cities of the country, so much so that there is the fear of the government of slipping back into the tunnel with no way out of the yellow vests. Despite all its limitations, the system Italy ends up making a good impression at least in terms of how the different problems have been tackled – for better or for worse.
The key points of the French pension reform
Let's get into the merits. The key points of the reform, proposed on behalf of the French government by Elisabeth Borne, are as follows:
1. increase from the current 62 a 64 years of “legal age” of retirement;
2. progressive character of this increase (so that it will reach 64 years in 2030);
3. increase, always progressively, of the number of years necessary to have a full pension (up to 43 years of contributions in 2027, instead of in 2035 as required by the law in force today)
4. exceptions for those who exercise strenuous tasks;
5. measures in favor of career reconstruction (also taking into account "jobs of collective utility");
6. increase in the minimum pension, which will be 1.200 euros gross per month for those with the maximum contributions.
The abolition of régimes spéciaux for future hires
Those who have ears attentive to this music will certainly realize that it is a set of reasonable measures which will be exploited in Italy because those in force here are apparently more rigorous. But the obstacle that no French government has managed to overcome up to now is another: the abolition – for future recruits – of special diets (such as those present in the transport sector or in other very delicate sectors as regards the services provided to the community who benefit from early pensions compared to other categories). These special schemes nestle in the categories of public and private services indispensable (such as transport and energy) and in public employment.
In these sectors i trade unions have come to block the activities to prevent attempts at reform. It is precisely the trade unions that no longer count for anything who take refuge in the sectors where they still have contractual power due to the essentiality of the services provided and the repercussions of the strikes, perhaps a little savage, on citizens, the economy and safety.
The characteristics of the French pension system
Where do the fiercest resistances emerge? There are in France 42 cases and specific schemes. Solidarity between generations is the basic rule; that is, the classic is expected pay-as-you-go financing. The three main ones are the general scheme for private sector employees (80% of pensioners), the Agricultural Social Mutual Fund (MSA) for agricultural workers and the scheme for independent professions. The special regimes – 11 in all – concern public employees, public companies and establishments (including the Bank of France, the SNCF railway company, the Parisian metro Ratp, etc.), but also the self-employed professions (lawyers) in addition to the solidarity fund for seniors.
The question of the retirement age in France has an aura of sacredness. It was in fact Francois Mitterrand, when he won the elections and brought the left to government for the first time in the Fifth Republic, to reduce the retirement age to 60, previously set at 65 for men and women. With great effort, successive governments have managed to bring this requirement to 62 years, however gradually managing to raise up to 45 years the contribution requirement to get the maximum pension. In essence, by introducing, albeit indirectly, an incentive/disincentive system.
In addition to the basic scheme, employees are obliged to pay contributions to so-called complementary boxes, and during their retirement they will receive a second social security treatment. This is a very complex system as each cashier works according to its own rules. They are usually based on scoring systems, converted into euros, the amount of which is added to that of the basic pensions.
The numbers at the National Assembly
The trade unions and the left have already become agitated after the announcement of the - gradual - measures that the government intends to propose, assuming and not granted that there isNational Assembly a majority that approves of it. At the National Assembly the macronist coalition it only has a relative majority (250 out of 577 deputies). It therefore lacks a nice hoard of votes to pass the bill peacefully. The main groups ofopposition they are the far right of the National Gathering of Marine Le Pen (88 deputies) and the extreme left of the France insubordinate (74) by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, determined to do battle to the last polemical firecracker (a Mélenchonist leader said that the deputies of her group will present "a thousand amendments each").
The Italian pension system between past and present
From this point of view the Italian trade unions make a great impression, not only against the French ones, but also against other European countries that are struggling to standardize the rules. Because we have fought the battle for the uniformity of the rules and not only for new hires the large federal organizations, measuring themselves against resistance even within their associative bodies, particularly in the public sector and in services.
In the mid-90s the structure of the compulsory pension system in Italy consisted of well 47 pension schemes (administered by social security institutions) divided as follows:
a) the general INPS regime with its four managements (employees, direct farmers, artisans and traders). Among these managements, the compulsory general insurance for invalidity, old age and survivors (Ago-Ivs) of the employee pension fund (Fpld) is certainly the most consistent of all schemes
b) i replacement schemes of the Ago-Ivs: ten funds, some of which (autoferrotranvieri, telephone, flight, excise, electrical, clergy and ministers of religion) with autonomous management at INPS. Show business workers and similar were enrolled in Enpals, journalists in Inpgi, business executives in industry Inpdai.
c) The exclusive regimes of the Ago-Ivs: nine managements in which State employees (paid by the Treasury), railway workers, post and telegraph operators and the funds were then unified and administered by the Inpdap (Cpdel for local authorities and health service personnel, Cps for doctors, veterinarians and health officers, Cpi for kindergarten teachers, Cpug for bailiffs and their assistants).
d) The exemption regimes: eight managements relating to bank pension funds. These managements, together with two exclusive regimes, were transferred to a special INPS management following the transformation of the related institutes into joint stock companies, in 1991.
e) supplementary schemes: three managements at INPS (miners, gas workers, tax collectors).
f) Professional regimes: twelve managements (notaries, lawyers and solicitors, engineers, architects, etc.).
g) A welfare regime at INPS who paid the social pension.
The request to proceed to the thinning out of social security institutions it was set by the trade union organizations in the early XNUMXs at the same time as their representatives left the boards of directors of the entities themselves.
three institutions, INPS (for most of the world of private work), the treasury ministry (for state personnel), the Inpdap (the Institute of Public Administration Employees for personnel of local authorities, the Health Service and other minor sectors already mentioned) alone covered 93% of the almost 22 million insured and paid 98% of the 16 million pensions at the time existing, to which the other social security and welfare benefits were to be added.
Inps: the architrave of the Italian pension system
INPS was already the real architrave of the entire pension system; it was responsible for 87% of the compulsory social security (with 62% attributable to the Fpld). The Institute in via Ciro il Grande was already a giant from an administrative and financial point of view, its budget was second only to that of the state. The data of its institutional activity can be summarized in a few figures: 19 million insured (85% of the employed population), 1,2 million associated companies, 14,2 million (equal to 10% of GDP, 20% of public expenditure and 45% of social protection expenditure). Furthermore, the INPS played the role of collector body on behalf of the State, taking care of the collection of contributions for the financing of the health service and income taxes.
The INPS was not limited to providing only pensions to employees and self-employed workers, but was the owner of other benefits such as family allowance, sickness and maternity, mobility and unemployment benefits, redundancy fund, social pensions, as well as other interventions of a welfare nature grouped in a specific management.
The Treasury and the Inpdap
Il Tesoro it operated as a provider of pensions for state, school and autonomous company employees for whom no social security/financial balance was envisaged. The benefits that these retirees received were practically one annuity, whose charges were directly borne by the State budget (like the salaries of the assets) which withheld only the portion of contributions attributable to employees. A pension scheme for state employees was set up within the framework of the Dini reform and framed in'Inpdap that the previous year (1994) constituted a first moment of aggregation of the social security of the public employee, as mentioned above. In fact, the Inpdap, in addition to the pension management, also incorporated the bodies that disbursed the severance pay in the various sectors of the PA as well as other minor services (ENPAS, INADEL, ENPEDEP). These parastatal entities had a history that came from afar, demonstrating the complexity of the social protection system that was stratified in the country. Until 1978, when the National Health Service (SSN) was established, they were part of the mutual system, alongside the giant INAM. After their disbandment – everything is created and nothing is destroyed – they concentrated their mission on theprovision of end-of-service treatments, functions that they already performed previously, albeit in a secondary way with respect to sickness assistance.
Italian social security today: Inps, Inail and private coffers
After a series of others merging processes today, since 2012, compulsory social security in Italy is made up of two large public centres: INPS which incorporated all the entities providing pension, welfare, employment, income support and family benefits (which recently also incorporated Inpgi); Inail which incorporated all the bodies providing accident prevention services. But more than the dimension of the organizational processes, the completion of which has been quite troubled for many understandable reasons, the most important aspect deriving from the decades of reforms/counter-reforms has been the gradual but growing unification of rules, in the general criteria (employee and self-employment) and in the specific regulations (employee).
Around these two giants, about twenty cases survive so-called privatized freelancers. The privatization regime (autonomous management of forms of compulsory social security, under the supervision of the Minister of Labour) of the Entities of Freelancers is a particular feature of our social security system.
The structural system (ie the relationship between members and pensions) of these Funds is healthy for now: il membership/pension ratioi stands on average above the 3,5 parameter compared to 1,4 regarding the overall pension system.
In the current context of compulsory social security, therefore, the sector of freelancers it is the one that should give less concern. But the sense of responsibility towards future generations must lead the administrators of the Casse, in the first place, to adopt the evangelical precept of the estota Parati. In other words, to grasp the contradictions inherent in the evolution of economic and employment processes.
It should be considered that INPS, despite being divided into about 40 funds and managements, has a unitary budget which allows the positive balances of some sectors to be used to offset the negative ones. An analogous solution or the establishment of a single entity for privatized funds it could be as well as a sign of solidarity of the category, also a guarantee of sustainability.
