What does the Fornero law say about retirement?

2022 will not only bring with it the tax reform. The Maneuver 2022 will also concern pensions, with Draghi opening last November to a modification of the Fornero law .

In fact, on 31 December 2021 the Quota 100 era will end. It will therefore no longer be possible to retire with an age (in 2019 or 2020) of 62 years, for 38 years of contributory seniority. And if on January 1, 2022 it should have been necessary to return to the Fornero law through a journey in stages, there have been many discussions in Parliament and an agreement has not yet been reached. The reason? Many do not like the old pension system, Lega in the first place, so much so as to push Prime Minister Draghi to open up to discussion. And to promise that the revision proposals put forward by the trade unions will be brought to the Council of Ministers.

What is it and what provides for the Fornero law

The Fornero law, or rather the Fornero pension reform , corresponds to article 24 of decree law n.201 (issued on 6 December 2011).

The context

The name derives from that of the then Minister of Labor and Social Policies, Elsa Fornero , which changed the functioning of the Italian pension system by issuing the so-called “Provisions on pension treatments”.

Before the Fornero law, the Dini reform, dated 1995, was in force. following the Save-Italy maneuver launched by the Monti government to counter the US recession caused by subprime, it was necessary to intervene on securing the accounts and on the long-term sustainability of the system

With the Fornero law, passed in 2011, the Italian pension system has gone from being paid to contributory . The first, more convenient for the worker, weighed excessively on the state coffers as it calculated the pension based on the last salary (generally, the highest of the entire working career) and without taking into account the contributions made over the years. Starting from 2011, all Italian workers retire with the contributory method.

Pensions today

The cardinal principle of the Fornero law is one: the pension grows as the contributions paid increase.

Workers who meet the requirement for the old-age pension (set at 67 years also for the two-year period 2021-2022) can therefore stop working, and receive a pension the sum of which is determined on the basis of contributions accumulated and revalued during the working life. This sum is then transferred to retirement, on the basis of numerical coefficients that depend on the age that the worker has at the time of retirement.

Retire due to seniority, and therefore with 40 years of contributions regardless of age, following the Fornero law it is no longer possible.

There are three methods for calculating the pension currently in force:

• the contribution system is applied to those who started working after January 1, 1996;
• workers with contributory seniority less than 18 years at 31 December 1995 retire with the mixed system : salary until 31 December 1995, contributory from 1 January 1996;
• workers with a contributory seniority equal to or greater than 18 years at 31 December 1995 , retire with the mixed system: salary until 31 December bre 2011, contributory from 1 January 2012 (date of entry into force of the Fornero law).

Pensions, what to expect from the 2022 maneuver

What will happen to Italian pensions is not yet clear to date. The pension reform is on the negotiating table, and there is no certainty as to the extent to which the Fornero law will be amended.

The Minister of Economy Daniele Franco, on 27 October last, however, he assured that there will be no increase in the retirement age until 31 December 2024 (the new Istat calculation relating to life expectancy will only be made on 1 January 2023) . There will also be no changes on the early retirement front , the terms of which will remain unchanged until the end of 2026. Currently, it is possible to retire early with 42 years and 10 months of contributions for men, or with 41 years and 10 months of contributions for women. But there are also alternatives, from early retirement for precocious workers to early retirement for strenuous or heavy work.

Quota 102 and Quota 104

Among the hypotheses currently under consideration there is the introduction of Quota 102 and Quota 104 instead of the current Quota 100.

Draghi, speaking on the subject of pensions, confirmed the impossibility of returning to the old system salary precisely because of its high costs. More likely is the introduction of progressive steps towards the return to the contributory system of the Fornero law. Steps, these, identified in Quota 102 and Quota 104. The idea was the following: 64 years of age and 38 years of contributions (totally or partially salary) as minimum requirements for the whole of 2022 and, subsequently, 66 years of age and 38 years of contributions for a further 12 months, before returning to full application of the Fornero law in 2024. All this, confirming the social Ape, the pink Ape Woman option. Today the idea of ​​Quota 104 seems outdated, while we continue to talk about Quota 102 (with the discontent of Cgil, Cisl and Uil).

The hypotheses under consideration

A hypothesis that in recent weeks has often been discussed is the retirement at 62 years with a contribution system for all .

However, there is a lot of resistance from political and trade union forces. And the alternatives proposed as many:

• Pasquale Tridico , president of INPS, proposed a advance on the pension at 63 years for taxpayers with a mixed system (which would then be paid full pension upon reaching the retirement requirement). The requirements? 63 or 64 years of age, 20 years of contributions, and a contributory portion of pension equal to or greater than 1.2 times the social allowance;
• the trade unions oppose the return to the Fornero law but also the application of Quota 102, and propose to leave the worker free to choose whether to retire at 62 years or with 41 years of contributions paid . Not only that: the main trade unions also ask for the free redemption of the degree, a guarantee pension for young people, and an expansion of strenuous or burdensome jobs (in this case, they ask that the Ape sociale be able to join with 63 years of age and 30 instead of 36 years of contributory seniority);
• the League focuses heavily on Quota 41 , and therefore on retirement for 41 years of contributions and a minimum age of 63 years.

Currently, therefore, there is no clear vision of what will happen. What is certain is that Draghi has promised opening, and has not blocked the way for a modification of the Fornero law. Also because there are many issues under consideration, especially at the behest of the trade unions. The trade unions mainly ask to intervene on the front of young people who, increasingly engaged in precarious jobs, risk retiring at very high ages and with derisory checks. But also on the front of women, for whom they ask for the recognition of an additional year of contributions for each child or one year every five if they have taken care of non self-sufficient family members.