(Bloomberg) -- A program backed by Italy’s Five Star Movement to distribute cash to the country’s poorest citizens has taken root just where the insurgent party hoped it would: in its stronghold in the impoverished south.
Since the plan’s inception in March, almost 80,000 people from the southern city of Naples have applied for payments under the so-called Citizens Income program, according to data released Monday by the Labor Ministry.
That’s the most for any city in the country, and it means that billions of euros will be funneled into Five Star’s southern stronghold -- including the Campania region, where almost half the votes in the 2018 election went to the party. Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio comes from a town just outside Naples.
Almost a third of Citizens Income applications to date have come from Campania and Sicily, two of Italy’s poorest regions. The next two regions with the most applications, Lazio and Puglia, are also in the south. Lombardy in the north, Italy’s most populous region, was only fifth, and the country’s wealthy alpine regions, Trentino Alto Adige and Valle D’Aosta, finished dead last.
The strong uptake for the program in the south is great news for Di Maio, who campaigned tirelessly in last year’s national election campaign on the promise of cash for the poor. The program’s success has gone down less well with Di Maio’s coalition partner, Matteo Salvini of the pro-business League party, whose electoral base is in the north.
Salvini said Monday that it remains to be seen if the measure will actually prove a useful remedy for poverty and joblessness, labeling the plan “a bet,” according to comments reported by Ansa news agency.
Many business leaders agree. The Citizens Income program could, for example, discourage an unmarried Italian in his or her twenties from seeking employment, Pierangelo Albini, who’s responsible for labor and welfare affairs at employers’ lobby Confindustria, told lawmakers in February.
Monthly Citizens Income benefits of up to 780 euros ($893) are aimed at people of working age below the absolute poverty line. Recipients must be willing to accept a job offer or they lose their benefits. Pensioners below the poverty level also qualify, and there have been more than 100,000 requests from retirees.