The right to receive a salary without working has been debated ever since the citizen's salary was introduced.

It took place in January 2019 under the leadership of then Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

- This is a decision that hits Italy's weakest.

We will do everything to prevent it from going through the parliament and people go out of their houses and protest.

Giuseppe Conte's first words after it became clear that the Meloni government is now removing the citizen's salary, which Conte's Five Star party has as a heart issue.

For the new government with Fratelli d'italia, Lega and Forza Italia, however, it was an important electoral promise that the salary would disappear.

- It is both immoral and demoralizing.

Those who can work must work.

Those who cannot, however, should get help, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in parliament when the issue was debated.

Hits southern Italy hardest

According to the government's estimates, a full 71 percent of those who now receive the salary are able to work.

You have had the right to refuse a job several times and still keep your salary.

From the turn of the year it will change: those who refuse will lose their salary immediately.

The rules are tightened in several other ways with

From 2024, the citizen's salary will be removed completely.

In the next year alone, the government expects to save the equivalent of eight billion kroner from the salary cuts.

Over 2.5 million Italians are affected, and of them a whopping 64.7 percent are in southern Italy.

- It is good that we keep our promise to the voters.

Many who work hard every day have been upset to see people who can work but stay at home and still get paid.

This salary has also led to a lack of labor and more black jobs and cheating, says Filomena d'Antini, local politician for Forza Italia in southern Italy's Lecce, to SVT.

Protest from the opposition

But opposition politician Nicola Nardella, who represents the Five Stars in the Naples suburb of Scampia, which has sky-high unemployment, disagrees.

- The citizen's salary has led to a reduction in robberies and other crimes and keeps people, not least young people, away from the mafia, the Camorra, who can otherwise offer money and jobs.

Have you seen the misery here?

We will protest, rest assured, he tells SVT.

Already this weekend, protests and demonstrations are expected in areas such as Scampia, around Italy.

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The right to receive a salary without working is causing heated political debate in Italy