Italian mayors protest govt. cuts

Hundreds of mayors from across Italy have rallied in the Italian capital of Milan to denounce the government’s new austerity measures.

“We are here with all the Italian mayors to protest against cuts that are unjust and unjustified, and against a package that hits out against small communities which are the first need of a citizen,” Reuters quoted Mayor of Milan Giuliano Pisapia as saying on Monday.

The mayors univocally said that the new austerity measures would endanger the country’s public services.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government, however, has said that the measures aim at restoring the country’s budget balance by 2013.

Franco Roccon, mayor of Castellavazzo and a member of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom Party, participated in the Monday rallies.

“Public spending is due to bad management and the excessively high number of public officials,” he said.

Several other members of Berlusconi’s party also attended the protests.

Italy has recently been under mounting pressure from EU leaders to contain its widening budget deficit.

Earlier in the month, the country’s cabinet approved new austerity measures, based on which the government will launch a program of privatization and implement cuts to salaries of public service workers.

Italy’s budget deficit currently stands at 3.8 percent of the country’s GDP. The Italian government introduced a EUR 48-billion austerity package in July to balance its budget.