Students in Parliament: “This isn’t a budget for young people”

This is not a budget bill for young people: “The funding for our proposals exists; what is lacking is the political will.” Representatives of the University Students’ Union (UDU) and the Secondary School Students’ Network spoke in no uncertain terms when they appeared before the Budget Committees of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, which have begun hearings on the budget bill.

In Parliament, the young people presented a series of figures which, they claim, “contradict the Government’s narrative”: out of a total of over 26 billion, the measures for the under-35s do not even amount to 600 million, they say. “Whilst defence accounts for 3.18 per cent of state resources (1.6 per cent of GDP), universities are left behind with just 1.12 per cent (0.5 per cent of GDP). The choice has been made to penalise public education in order to raise general budgetary revenue”. For this reason, the Udu and the Rete degli Studenti Medi will table a package of amendments worth 6 billion euros in the Chamber of Deputies – equivalent to a quarter of the entire budget – to begin investing structurally in young people and the country’s development. “There has certainly been interest from some MPs; they have asked us specific questions about the proposed amendments we are drafting.”

“However, clearly, on the other hand, we have not found anyone willing to listen or to re-examine their position in order to understand how to amend this law so that it truly becomes a budget law for young people,” observes Lucia Ferrante of the Udu at the end of the hearing. “The funding for a housing scheme, student grants and free university education exists; the decision not to invest in these three important areas is a political one. We gave the example of the bridge over the Strait,” she adds.

Student organisations also condemn the fact that, during the hearing before the Budget Committee, a Member of Parliament from Fratelli d’Italia “told us, in a mocking tone, that we were not at a rally. In the face of this arrogance, we respond that the institutions have a political duty to listen to the voice of students, not to silence it. This Government is once again choosing to cut funding for education: schools and universities are not cash machines to be used to raise funds. If anyone in the ruling coalition claims not to agree with the cuts, let them prove it through their actions: in Parliament and on the streets, starting with the strike on 20 November. Allocating resources to education is not an unaffordable cost, but a political choice of priorities. “We call on MPs to take up our proposals,” conclude the University Students’ Union and the Secondary School Students’ Network.