Italian union calls strike over ‘unjust’ budget bill, 10 percent of Italians ‘gave up’ on accessing healthcare in 2024, and more news on Monday.
Italian union calls strike over ‘unjust’ budget bill
The general secretary of Italy’s CGIL trade union, Maurizio Landini, has declared a general strike on December 12th over the government’s “unjust and wrong” 2026 draft budget, Ansa news agency reported.
“The fundamental emergency right now is wages: we need to raise wages, and this measure doesn’t do that,” Landini said, calling for higher salaries for public sector workers, tax relief with no income ceiling, and more spending on healthcare.
Speaking at a discussion of the bill in Florence on Friday, Landini said CGIL had proposed a “solidarity contribution” of 1 percent for residents with more than €2 million, which he said “would be enough to raise €26 billion to invest in healthcare, hiring, education, and to raise salaries for everyone.”
“We demand investment in public healthcare because we are faced with the reality that six million people cannot access treatment, with never-ending waiting lists,” he said.
Ten percent of Italians ‘gave up’ on accessing healthcare in 2024
One in 10 Italians – 5.8 million people – gave up on accessing healthcare in 2024 due to problems with Italy’s health service or financial difficulties, according to national statistics agency Istat.
Lengthy wait times were the main reason for forgoing treatment, cited by 6.8 percent of people, Istat President Francesco Maria Chelli told a parliamentary hearing on the government’s 2026 budget bill on Thursday.
The figure was up from 4.5 percent in 2023 and 2.8 percent in 2019, Chelli said.
Older people were most affected, with 8.3 percent of those in the 45-64 age range and 9.1 percent aged over 64 declining treatment due to long waiting lists.
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EU restricts visas for Russian nationals over Ukraine war
The European Union on Friday said it would deny Russians multi-entry visas as security fears rise nearly four years into the war on Ukraine.
The visa curbs come as fears have risen over the threat of Russian “hybrid warfare” in the EU after air space incursions and unexplained drone sightings in numerous countries.
The EU in 2022 suspended its visa facilitation agreement with Russia and has told member states to “deprioritise” visas for Russians, and the number of visas issued to Russians fell from more than four million before the war to some 500,000 in 2023, Brussels said.
But EU diplomats said the the number of approvals has begun to rise again, with tourist hotspots Italy, France, Spain among countries providing the most visas.
With reporting from AFP.