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Mario Monti Frank Augstein/AP/Press Association Images
pay cut

Italian politicians to take salary cut as austerity bites

The country’s prime minister Mario Monti has asked all representatives to accept a pay reduction.

ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER Mario Monti has asked politicians to take a salary cut as part of a broader effort to trim the privileges of the country’s elite.

The government said in a statement today that Monti sent a decree to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate that would cap salaries for members of both houses of the Italian parliament – who are among the best-paid in Europe. The move is part of an austerity package, nicknamed Save Italy, passed in December in a bid to trim the costs of bureaucracy.

The deputy speaker of the lower house, Rocco Buttiglione, said the request would be approved.

The cuts are a hallmark of Monti’s government, which has pledged to get rid of privileges that have angered many Italians. Monti himself has renounced his own salary as premier and economy minister.

Author
Associated Foreign Press
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