Per la libertà di movimento, per i diritti di cittadinanza

Maternity benefits denied to non EU citizens

A new law decree was published September 30th 2003, it is lwa decree number 269 and it goes opposite to Fini declaration on equality of treatment. The decree title is “Urgent instructions to favour development and adjustment of the state accounts”.
It in a way anticipates the Financial law that is to soon come.
Art. 21 shows a rule entitles “Second child benefits and social politics national fund improvement”.

Art. 21 paragraph 1 says “Each second (or adopted child or following other children) child born from December 1st to December 31st 2004 allows their mothers. Italian or EU citizens, to a 1.000 euros cheque”.
This rule provides for the assigment of the benefit apart from interested people actual income. Both poor and rich women will benefit from this instruction. The bonus unfortunately only goes to Italian and EU women.

Non EU citizens – also the ones holding regular papers – are not taken into consideration. Former rules were worsened, in fact up to this decree EU and non EU people holding resident permits were equally treated. Therefore foreign women were before entitled to the benefit when delivering a second child.

Nowadays income doesn’t anymore limit the benefit release, today everyone, even the ones not needing it, are to have a 1.000 euros bonus except for non EU women.

Consolidated act art. 41, unchanged by Bossi-Fini law, has been worn away. Operators, after having read this new article, understand that the real content of the law is not what stated in the law but it is what 2001 financial law and new decree write. During the left wing government art. 41, that stated that people holding residence papers, are to be treated the same as EU and Italian citizens, was partially changed by financial law 388/2000, it was changed in the sense that it limited benefits only to non EU citizens holding stable residence papers.

This change restricted rights, just remeber how difficult is to obtain stable residence papers.

Today we are reaching a ridicolous situation: in fact it really doesn’t matter if a person is rich or poor to have the maternity benefit but what counts is not being non EU citizens.

We sincerely hope that this law decree won’t be enacted and we also hope that politicians, such as Turco, will oppose it as strong as they can. Turco should also admit that she was the one who helped the equal treatment principle destruction.

Next flows decree and the new rules for the enforcement of law

We are often asked when the new flows decree will be enacted integrating the past June one. Some indiscretions said that a new decree was to come in October or November, but Sacooni, labour department deputy-secretary, declared that next flows decree is to come by the end of 2003 after the new rules for the enforcement of law enactment.
The government will is to rule next quota when the rules for the enforcement of law will be in use, the new rules are being studied at the Conferenza unificata Stato – Regioni (regions-state conference) in order then to be evaluated and published by the state council.
The rules draft is available and operators were able to understand its orienteering but up to the day of its enactment changes can occur and therefore we must wait for this to come. We managed to understand that politicians are thinking of obliging workers and employers to go to prefecture each time a new job starts even if residnece papers are still valid. I wonder what’s to happen to all temporary workers employed by agencies whose contracts may only last one week or a months the most. New proceedings will slow things down.

I therefore believe that no flows decree is soon to be published.