Naples residents go on protest after losing basic income

The Italian government has cancelled the subsidy for able-bodied people of working age

Several hundred people took part in a protest in Naples, which occasionally led to clashes with the police and blocking of traffic on Monday morning. The reason for the crowd’s discontent was the plan of the Meloni government to reform and replace the country’s basic income plan with other types of subsidies, which aim to revitalize the workforce potential.

The southern Italian city happens to have the largest concentration of basic income recipients in the country, so the reversal decision was most likely to resonate there deeply.

According to Il Post, the popular discontent, however, has to do as much with the way the people received the news as with the fact that their government-provided income is being curtailed. At the start of August, the authorities quickly started sending SMS messages to people letting them know that things are changing with regard to the basic income. This came as a shock to many as it was the first time they heard about it, plus the text messages weren’t rich in detail.

It looks like basic income hasn’t inspired people to work

The basic income, known as reddito in Italy, was first introduced by the Giuseppe Conte government in 2018 with two main goals: to alleviate poverty and to encourage people to pursue work that they enjoy.

It seems though that things haven’t quite turned out according to optimistic plans, as many people have just simply decided that pursuing a career is not something that is of interest to them. Now with a looming recession, however, the government has decided that able-bodied people living eternally on the dole might be too much of a burden for the budget.

That’s why the Meloni cabinet’s plan is to encourage those people to actually find a job by swapping their reddito for another subsidy called “Support for training and work”, which will only be available for 12 months at the amount of 350 euros per month. In comparison, the monthly reddito allowance is 500 euros per month.

However, people with disabilities, minors and those over 60 years of age will continue having access to the basic income, which will be called “inclusion allowance”. What’s more, they may also be eligible for an additional rent subsidy of 280 euros per month.