ROME – The government will clamp down on those benefitting economically from moving business processes overseas, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio confirmed on Monday.

 A new law, labelled the ‘decree of dignity’, will be the “first step forwards” in the battle against businesses relocating, Di Maio stated in a recent press conference. Firms will be forced to pay back any support they have received from the government; imposed fines of between two and four times the amount initially received. In addition, whilst an early draft of the law proposed a ten-year deadline between the initial aid and later sanctions, this has been cut to only five years.

 The law will affect not only those leaving Italy completely for another European country, but also those transferring economic activity there, even if only partially. Moreover, the support will be paid back with increased interest of up to five percent.

 The Deputy Prime Minister has acknowledged the difficulties of the decree. “I know very well that our intervention will not be able to leave the low cost of work out of consideration, and this will be seen in the budget law,” he told journalists on Monday. “Our objective is to lower the cost of work to allow people to have contracts with all the legal protection possible, and to meet this, businesses must stop overspending so that the bureaucracy has more resources” to create value and work.

 Everything has been confirmed, except measures to tackle the work insecurity possibly accompanying this decree.

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