Pensions, the new inflation adjustment plug arrives and the integrative worksite starts

New possible thorns are on the government's way on the pension adjustment front, while in the next Budget law one of the important chapters could be aimed at incentivising supplementary pensions, a theme that had already heated up the debate in the last manoeuvre. These two fronts open with a coincidence in time. On one side there is the court of Trento that has raised a question of constitutional legitimacy before the Constitutional Court for the inflation equalisation mechanism chosen on pensions by the Meloni government. On the other hand, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, speaking at the assembly of Ania, the association of the insurance world, made it clear that it will be necessary to adjust the rules on insurance pensions, which are still in place in 2005. Not sparing a solicitation to the insurance world, which on this calls for reform and proposes a 'pact for a stronger and fairer Italy', but to which the minister submitted the need for 'more generous benefits'".

The knot on the Consulta's table, if upheld by the high court, would open a hole in the public accounts. At the attention of the constitutional judges are the measures of 2022 and 2023 that provided for the cut in the revaluation of pensions with respect to inflation, which affects those four times the minimum. But in the crosshairs is above all the 'block' adjustment mechanism, with a fixed rate cut for all income according to the threshold reached. For the unions it is contrary to the principle of contribution proportionality "with a flattening effect that cancels - argues the CGIL - differences between careers and contributions": a cut that would be worth 10 billion in three years. The request for examination, on the other hand, starts from the appeal of a pensioner who asked for the application of a sliding scale system, progressive like the one in force for Irpef, with reductions on the different bands even within a single income. "The pending judgement," reads the order of the Court of Trento sent to the Constitutional Court, "cannot be defined independently of the resolution of the aforementioned question of constitutional legitimacy". Already in the past, the Constitutional Court has ruled on cuts to pension adjustments: in 2015 on the matter after the total freeze on equalisation decided at the end of 2011 with the Salva Italia for 2012 and 2013 for all pension treatments above three times the minimum, declaring their constitutional illegitimacy. In that case, the government had intervened with a partial progressive revaluation for treatments above three times the minimum and up to six times (with recoveries between 40 per cent and 10 per cent of inflation).

Then there is the complementary pension front. 'Complementary social security in Italy is still based on the regulatory framework defined in 2005, in a social and demographic context very different from the current one,' Giorgetti said, speaking at Ania. 'That is why it must now be extended and modernised with an organic set of measures to strengthen its diffusion, fairness and effectiveness. The Minister of Labour Marina Calderone also explained that adherence to these integrative forms should be encouraged. In the past manoeuvre, a system of silent consent had been reasoned upon for the passage, after six months, of the severance pay to social security funds, in order to strengthen future pensions. The government,' Giorgetti explained, 'could intervene on three directives: "Improvements in membership mechanisms; incentives to increase contributions, which do not necessarily entail greater burdens on the state; stimuli for competition and more efficient investment solutions. But everyone will have to do his or her part: 'It would be in the interest of both individuals and the general public,' he added, 'to have a more developed complementary pension system that on the one hand reduces the pension gap, guaranteeing more generous benefits, and on the other contributes to the financing and development of the country's system. A clear message for those on the insurance side who manage supplementary pension products.