Italian MPs Back 2014 Budget To Tackle Social Crisis
The new budget includes measures to encourage hiring of workers, higher taxes on large pensions and the introduction of a new benefits scheme for the unemployed.
Via AFP:
Italy's parliament on Friday approved a 2014 budget intended to tackle a social crisis which is still deep even after the formal end of its longest post-war recession.
The government has said the budget "reverses" the austerity of recent years but critics including the business lobby Confindustria warn that it is not enough to stimulate economic growth.
Finance Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni said the budget will keep Italy in line with EU norms on debt and deficit, as well as lowering taxes on labour.
"It marks a change of direction," he said.
It includes the creation of a fund with ...