Champion of Italy and golden salaries for municipal employees. The opposition councilors write to the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella. The exponents of the Campione 2.0 list speak of “unjustifiable” and “anachronistic” salaries, Simone Verda and Gianluca Marchesini. The same ones who carried out the battle on the border that separates a residential complex under construction on Swiss soil from the historic cemetery and sanctuary of Santa Maria dei Ghirli on Italian territory.
Councilors Verda and Marchesini: “Salaries of over 10 thousand euros”
Now the question of salaries of city hall employees. Due to its geographical location, the territory of Campione is entirely surrounded by Swiss jurisdiction despite being part of the province of Como. “In the past – explain the councilors – the municipality fell within an area considered a customs area of reference for the Swiss Confederation, but today it is integrated within the borders of the European Union”. Which was then followed by the first ministerial obligations.
“It therefore remains embarrassing – write Verda and Marchesini – to verify that for over 4 years since their inclusion in Europe the employees of the Municipality of Campione continue to receive salaries of over 10,000 euros net per month, perhaps, but not even too justifiable before due to the different context economic, but anachronistic and arbitrary for the entire public finance”. So the numbers: “14.5 municipal employees cost almost 2,700,000 euros a year which corresponds to almost a third of the contribution that the state annually pays to the Municipality. It is emblematic that the general secretary of the municipality receives a much higher salary than the prefect of Como”.
All of this is part of a context that is certainly not rosy if one considers the collapse of the institution and the difficulties experienced by the entire territory. At the time the prefectural commissioner had made a reduction in staff to reduce costs.
“We ask – they say, turning to Mattarella – for his intervention since today the employee of the casino, a company 100 percent owned by the Municipality, the employees of the corporate structures – for example – receive salaries in line with the Italian ones as they are subject to this change ”. “As can be seen, a world of a privileged few has been created and a world (almost all) of people who are struggling since the country has been in economic crisis since 2018 and taxes are at the maximum”. This is how Verda and Marchesini close the letter.
Mayor Canesi’s response: “There is little that can be done”
From the side of the mayor of Campione d’Italia, Roberto Canesi, he explains that previous administrations had also asked for the situation to be taken into account: “Salaries – he explains – depend on Italian regulations and labor law has always given employees the right. There’s little that can be done, we can’t cut salaries. In the past, part of the allowances had already been reduced in 2018. As of today, we can’t do anything.” The mayor then clarified that the current casino employees, as new hires, are bound to new contracts “and so – he adds – the salary has been reduced but it is not possible to intervene on past hires. However, I invite the councilors – closes Canesi – to raise the issue in the City Council”.
