Italian parliament passes austerity package

Italian parliament passes austerity package

2011-07-16 03:56:43 GMT+7 (ICT)

ROME (BNO NEWS) -- The lower house of Italy's parliament on Friday passed an austerity package worth over 70 billion euros ($98.86 billion) designed to balance the budget by 2014 and protect Italy from a debt crisis.

The austerity package, which was passed in the lower house by 314 votes to 280 with two abstentions, includes cuts of 48 billion euros ($67 billion) over three years to balance the budget in 2014 and make financing of Italy's 1.8 trillion euros ($2.5 trillion) debt more sustainable. Initially, 25.3 billion euros ($35.73 billion) will be raised to which an additional 22.6 billion euros ($31.91 billion) will be added in 2014.

Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti has compared the eurozone debt crisis to the Titanic, saying "not even those in first class (like Italy) were spared". He said that without a balanced budget, the public debt, the second-largest in the eurozone behind Greece at 120% of GDP, "will swallow up our future."

According to the media, cuts to tax breaks will cost the average Italian family 1,000 euros ($1,412) over the next two years. Italians will now have to pay 10 euros ($14) for medical prescriptions and 25 euros ($35) for emergency care at hospitals.

According to figures released by the Italian national statistics agency on Friday, more than 8 million people, or almost 14 percent of the population, are living below the bread line and over three million, or 5 percent, live in "absolute poverty."

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