PESCARA. Two thirds of the poor have been excluded from citizenship income. Caritas underlines this in light of the data recently published by the Ministry of Labour. “If we consider the total number of families in poverty, Istat has calculated that just over 30% of them received the Citizenship Income between 2020 and 2022. What does this mean? It means that despite the total expenditure and the significant number of people reached by this aid, two thirds of those living in the worst conditions, people in absolute poverty, have not benefited from this support”, underlines Caritas, recalling having “predicted, with ad hoc simulations, that 44% of families in poverty would receive the Citizenship Income and that therefore more than 50% of them would be left without help. Unfortunately, the data published by the Committee is worse than expected.”
“The release of the Committee’s monitoring report – says Don Marco Pagniello from Pescara, director of Caritas Italiana – confirms first of all that to design effective measures to combat poverty it is necessary to start from those who are worse off. Caritas’ method is to stay close to the poorest and accompany them, welfare is not enough. And to accompany them, time and interventions are needed at a local level, such as training and retraining, for example, otherwise the effectiveness of the interventions will be compromised. Italy is the country where poverty is inherited. Starting from the poor is a duty in the fight against poverty. Starting from scratch every time with contrast measures, however, is a mistake. We therefore need continuity and listening by politicians to those who monitor social phenomena on a daily basis. Now it will be important to take into account the Committee’s report so as not to squander what has been acquired. And we will continue with our monitoring.”
