15 June 2007
The end of the line for Parliamentary Privileges
I’m publishing a letter from Silvana Mura, a deputy with Italia dei Valori.
“Following the wave of unpopularity that has hit politics, all of a sudden all the parties seem to have rediscovered the topic of excess costs and the many privileges that there main players enjoy.
Nearly all the leaders have participated in the debate indicating this or that recipe, but at the moment, concrete solutions are not visible.
In the Commission for Constitutional Affairs in the Lower House, it has been decided to start a wide ranging fact-finding investigation before putting anything into action.
One may ask what there is to be found out and discovered on a topic like that of the cost of politics well known not just to those on the job but also to the citizens.
One could suspect that there’s an attempt to lengthen the time frames in the hope that with the passage of time the attention will fall off and everything can be left as it is now.
To do an in depth examination of complex arguments like institutional reform, or the rationalization of the public administration is definitely useful, but on everything that is a question of privilege like the pension for parliamentarians, or all the benefits that are set up, the response must be immediate.
Italia dei Valori has presented a draft law and if there is the will, this could be examined and voted on in the Lower and Upper Houses in a few months and come into force by 2008.
The most important points in our draft law are as follows:
1) Reform of the pensions for parliamentarians. The new system increases the number of years needed to get a pension and it reduces the amount paid. To have the right to a pension, a parliamentarian will have to have been in parliament for at least 10 years and they will get an income for life that is 25% of the salary.
2) Elimination of the benefits enjoyed by parliamentarians. Parliamentarians will no longer have the right to free travel on the motorways, the railways, ships and aircraft, nor will they have telephone expenses reimbursed. For all the items classed as expenses claimed (that are currently on the basis of an expense allowance) these will only be reimbursed on the submission of the appropriate official receipts and an explanation of the reason for that expenditure.
3) Publicising and transparency of the balance sheets. The balance sheets of the Lower House, the Upper House, the Quirinale but also of the Constitutional Court and of CNEL must be made public and accessible to all the citizens.
4) No privileges for those who are no longer in post. Once the Presidents of the Lower and Upper Houses and of the Constitutional Court cease to have their position, they will no longer have the right to benefits that they currently enjoy (official blue cars, secretaries, offices and expenses)
5) A slimmer government with fewer Ministries. It is established that the total number of Ministries forming the government cannot be more than 17. The total number of people in the whole government including vice ministers and undersecretaries cannot be more than 72 (currently the total is 102).
6) Abolition of public funding of all party publications. As well as these points that alter the privileges that are the most shameful and most objectionable for the public, there are a series of regulations to reduce the spending of government and of local bodies, to put a cap on the use of and payment to consultants by local administration.
These are simple measures that will impact on the phenomenon and situations that everyone knows about and they must be voted on urgently.”
Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Reducing the costs of politics