Citizenship income in Italy will serve 1,4 million families
Since it emerged at the end of the last decade, the M5S advocated the creation of a universal basic income for citizens, but the state of Italian finances allowed a considerably less ambitious project. Even so, it will provide a monthly subsidy for around 4,3 million people, along the lines of the Brazilian Bolsa Família, although with a duration limit.
It is not yet known exactly how much each family will receive, but the government plans to spend 6,1 billion euros in 2019 on the program, which will come into force in April, which guarantees a monthly benefit of just over 490 euros for each family. (around R$2 thousand).
The ANSA agency published that it had access to the draft of the decree, which should be discussed by the Council of Ministers this week. The benefit will work through a type of prepaid card – only part of the amount can be withdrawn in cash.
To access the program, the family cannot have an Equivalent Economic Situation Indicator (ISEE), an instrument that measures living conditions based on income and assets, exceeding 9.630 euros. The objective of M5S is to guarantee a basic income to all families with an average monthly income of less than 780 euros, or 500, in the case of singles.
The benefit will be available to Italians, European Union citizens and other foreigners, as long as they have lived continuously in the country for 10 years. The maximum usufruct period will be 18 months, and can be renewed after a break of one month.
Beneficiaries will also not be able to refuse three job offers in a row, within a radius of 100 kilometers in the first six months, 250 kilometers in a year and throughout Italy after 12 months. If there is no offer in the first year, the citizen will have to accept any offer that comes their way, or they will lose the benefit.
As it stands, the citizenship income is a broader version of the “social inclusion income” (“ReI”), created by the previous government and which pays up to 485 euros per month for around 1 million families. In the case of the latter, however, the family ISEE cannot exceed 6 thousand euros – the program will be discontinued in March.
The creation of citizenship income is one of the reasons for the Italian government to raise its deficit target in 2019, which almost caused the country to be denounced by the European Commission. After long negotiations, Italy agreed to reduce the projected fiscal deficit from 2,4% of GDP to 2,04%.
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