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WORLD NEWS Thursday 7 March 2019

Italian populists launch welfare program for poor, jobless

By NICOLE WINFIELD Italian or EU citizens, or legal or mortgage payments.
Associated Press residents who have lived in The amount depends on
ROME (AP) — Italy’s popu- Italy at least 10 years and the family size and housing
list government opened its whose annual household type; the card cannot be
new minimum income wel- income doesn’t exceed used for gambling.
fare program Wednesday, 9,360 euros ($10,604). Able-bodied workers must
fulfilling a key campaign Participants in the scheme sign up for job placement
promise of the 5-Star Move- also cannot own pleasure or training programs. The
ment to try to reduce pov- boats, second homes worth first job offer is to be lo-
erty and unemployment in more than 30,000 euros or cated within 100 kilometers
the eurozone’s third-largest have bought a car in the of home, the second offer
economy. six months prior to applying. within 250 kilometers and
The so-called “citizen’s in- While the government has the third anywhere in Italy,
come” is essentially a new said that 5 million people with some caveats.
system of welfare and un- could benefit in this country For starters, the govern-
employment benefits for A man holds an application form as at a fiscal consultancy of 60 million, the national ment expects to hire 6,000
office to apply for the minimum income, in Rome, Wednesday,
poorer households, provid- March 6, 2019. statistics bureau said the people to beef up and
ing more money than cur- Associated Press figure is more like 2.7 mil- implement the job-training
rent unemployment ben- ernment center in Rome’s that month, again second lion. Of those, only 900,000 aspect of the program.
efits. outskirts Wednesday, the only to Greece. are considered to be able- ___
Eligible residents receive first day they were being Deputy Premier and 5-Star bodied to work. HOW CAN YOU LOSE THE
pre-paid debit cards to accepted. leader Luigi Di Maio has The elderly, the disabled BENEFITS?
pay for groceries, pharma- The scheme is slated to cited the need to jumpstart or sick, or those caring for The benefits of course end
ceuticals, utility bills and cost the Italian government the economy and create young children are exempt if the participant ultimately
rent, among other things. 7.1 billion euros this year, a jobs while addressing Italy’s from the job hunt require- finds a job that brings them
In exchange, able-bodied spending spree that helped growing number of people ment, though some are out of poverty.
participants enroll in a job- spark months of heated living in poverty in spear- expected to perform com- But participants can lose
finding and job-training budget negotiations with heading the “citizen’s in- munity service. their benefits early if they
program. the European Union. At come” program. ___ fail to sign up for the job-
“The fact of getting the about 133 percent of GDP, He said Wednesday that a HOW DOES IT WORK? finding or job-training pro-
money has a relative im- Italy’s debt load is the sec- “revolution” had begun for Once an application has gram or the community
portance,” said Rosario ond-highest in Europe, after the poor and unemployed. been approved, partici- service requirement. They
Morrone, a 60-year-old who Greece’s. “Today we’re keeping a pants receive a monthly can also lose their benefits
said she has been jobless Italy also has the third-high- promise,” he said. “The pre-paid debit card to pay if they fail to update their
for 25 years. “My main inter- est unemployment rate in state is finally taking care of for groceries, pharmaceuti- status, incomes or family
est is to go back to work,” the EU, hitting 10.5 percent the invisibles.” cals, utility bills and limited size, or if they are found to
she said, as she submitted in January. Youth unem- ___ cash withdrawals, and then have received income on
her application at a gov- ployment was 33 percent WHO IS ELIGIBLE? a separate amount for rent the side.q

Manhunt on after 2 attack money transporter in Germany

Assciated Press er, which remained at the airport in verely injured by a shot in his thigh to say how many officers were in-
BERLIN (AP) — A manhunt was un- western Germany. and had to undergo emergency volved in the search.
derway in western Germany for at Surveillance camera footage pub- surgery in the hospital. He was no The German news agency dpa re-
least two masked suspects who at- lished by local newspaper Rhein- longer in a life-threatening condi- ported that authorities were also
tacked a money transport truck at ische Post showed two masked sus- tion on Wednesday afternoon. using a helicopter to search for the
the Cologne-Bonn airport and shot pects, one of them armed, quickly Police said the suspects later set assailants.
a guard Wednesday. taking a wheeled suitcase to a the car on fire on the southern out- Initially Cologne police said three
Cologne police spokesman black car and driving off with high skirts of Cologne. people were involved in the at-
Carsten Rust said it was not yet speed. A large manhunt was underway in tack, but later they changed it to
clear if the suspects managed to Rust confirmed the video was au- the Cologne region, but for inves- saying “at least two people” were
rob any money from the transport- thentic. He said the guard was se- tigative reasons, Rust didn’t want involved.q