The measure, based on voluntary participation, could be included in the budget plan currently being discussed on the other side of the Alps. But it is being criticised by the unions.
While in France, the National Rally is pushing to repeal the pension reform – proposing retirement at 62 years of age at the most – its counterpart on the other side of the Alps is making a 180 degree turn. After defending retirement after 41 years of contributions, without taking age into account, the government of the nationalist right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni is now considering delaying it, for civil servants… to 70 years of age.
In an interview this week with the newspaper Serra Courier , The Italian Minister of Civil Service, Giovanni Zangrillo, has in fact affirmed having discussed with the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti the “possibility of remaining active until age 70”. “On a voluntary basis”he nevertheless specified. And accompanied by a payment of bonuses for this extension of their career. Today, the minister recalled, “Security and defense sector employees retire at 60, while everyone else retires at 65 with at least 42 years of service and I don’t know how many months of contributions, or at 67.”
A measure whose contours have been somewhat distorted on this side of the Alps by certain politicians. “The Italian far right wants retirement at 70”for example, stated on X (ex-Twitter) the LFI-NFP deputy Clémence Guetté, vice-president of the National Assembly. “In Italy, once in power, Le Pen and Bardella’s friends want retirement at 70”wrote to him the Insoumis deputy Manuel Bompard, national coordinator of LFI.
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“Transfer of skills”
For the Italian civil servants who volunteer, they would spend these additional years carrying out mentoring and coaching activities, or else filling needs that could not be met otherwise, according to the technical report of the project, which would concern administrations that consider it strategic to retain the experience of certain employees. And thus allow a “transfer of skills” with newly recruited staff. The Italian government says it wants to hire 350,000 young public sector employees by 2025, after the 173,000 new hires in 2023, to cope with the retirement of one million people by 2030. This measure to postpone the retirement age would guarantee “a lower social burden” the time of maintaining activity, supports the transalpine executive.
It could be included in the budget plan currently being discussed in Italy. But it faces heavy fire from the unions. “It seems to me to be madness because we are faced with the usual logic of using pensions to earn money.”castigated the leader of the General Confederation Italian of labour (CGIL), Maurizio Landini. “We cannot imagine asking people who have reached the age of 67 to stay in their jobs, even if it is presented as a voluntary option,” added the secretary general of the Italian Labour Union (UIL), Pierpaolo Bombardieri. “They have the right and the duty to enjoy their retirement after many years of work and I do not think the rules can be changed during the match.”
