Goodbye, or maybe goodbye, al ceiling of 240 thousand euros established on the salaries of some top figures in the Public Administration. An amendment to Aid bis decree approved on Tuesday by the Senate in fact, it allows the threshold of 240 thousand euros to be exceeded, without, among other things, setting any new limit, other than the availability of resources present in the appropriate fund. A measure that has irritated, and not a little, the Prime Minister Mario Draghi, triggering a controversy involving the Ministry of Economy and the majority parties.
Salaries, the ceiling of 240 thousand for public managers jumps
The amendment approved by Palazzo Madama provides that:
"to the Chief of Police, the general commander of the Carabinieri, the general commander of the Gdf, the head of the Dap, as well as the other chiefs of staff, as well as the heads of departments and the secretary general of the presidency of the Council, the chiefs department and the general secretaries of the ministries are allowed, even as an exception to the ceiling of 240 euros set for public managers, an additional economic treatment”, within the maximum limit of a fund which will have to be defined by a further decree from the government, on a proposal from the Ministry of the Economy.
Speaking in simple terms, thanks to the ancillary treatment which is added to the basic salary and which for public managers represents a dominant element of remuneration, these figures they can earn more.
The "roof" was introduced in 2011 by the Monti government with the Salva-Italia decree and revised three years later by the Renzi government.
The irritation of Premier Draghi and the controversies of the parties
The novelty, voted for by a large majority in the commission, was not liked at all (to put it mildly) by Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Already yesterday evening Palazzo Chigi spoke of a "purely parliamentary dynamic", not shared by the Premier who welcomed the news with "disappointment". In fact, Draghi would consider the elimination of the ceiling inappropriate, especially in a period in which families and businesses are struggling to make ends meet due to the crisis.
The problem is that this rule does not seem to please even the parties that gave the go-ahead in commission. Not by chance, the Pd speaks of "an amendment by Forza Italia reformulated by the Mef, like all the amendments voted in favor today, which we do not agree with in any way" and announces an agenda to the Aiuti bis decree for commit “the government to change the law and restore the ceiling in the first useful provision and that is in the Aiuti ter decree".
Of the same opinion too Matteo Renzi, who underlines: “It's a roof that I had put up. Today the government reformulated an amendment and we had no alternatives” to prevent it “to prevent everything from blowing up”, i.e. the Senate's approval of the Aiuti bis decree. "I hope we return to the Renzì ceiling of 240 thousand euros: it doesn't seem like a brilliant idea to increase the salaries of top executives now, but we could only vote for the decree, otherwise 17 billion in aid would jump".
240 cap on PA salaries, what really happened?
In short, if Palazzo Chigi "blames" the parties, the latter reject the charge and take it out on the MEF. How did it really go and above all because the Ministry of the Economy gave the green light to a provision that the Premier does not like at all?
The roof was removed from a amendment presented by Forza Italia and reformulated by the Mef, which – we remind you again – was approved by a large majority of the parties present in the Commission.
However, the Mef is not there to act as a scapegoat and explains: the technicians of the ministry have only carried out an assessment of the coverage identified and voted on by the Finance Commission. Nothing more. And since the covers were there, via XX Settembre could not do anything but give the go-ahead. However, for the implementation of the measure, they underline, a subsequent provision is necessary.
