Author
Article 27 of the Qualification Decree specifies that beneficiaries of international protection are entitled to equal treatment with Italian citizens in the area of health care and social security.[1]
Social security contributions in Italy are mainly provided by the National Institute of Social Security (Istituto Nazionale di Previdenza Sociale, INPS), the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (Istituto Nazionale Assicurazione Infortuni sul Lavoro, INAIL), municipalities and regions.
The provision of social welfare is not conditioned on residence in a specific region but in some cases is subject to a minimum residence requirement on the national territory. This is namely the case for income support (Reddito di Cittadinanza), to be paid from 1 April 2019, which is subject to 10 years of residence on the national territory out of which at least 2 years’ uninterrupted residence.[2]
This can entail serious obstacles for beneficiaries of international protection in practice, due to the difficulties in obtaining housing after leaving the reception system.
“The CJEU ruled in C-462/20 that it is contrary to EU law to give different rights to citizens and beneficiaries of international protection. The case concerned family discount cards in Italy that can be used to obtain reduced rates on goods and services, but the cards are not provided to beneficiaries.”[3]
From 1 January 2024, income support has been substituted with different social welfare provisions called “inclusion income” (‘Reddito di inclusione’) and “support income for training and work” (‘Supporto per la formazione e il lavoro’). Beneficiaries of international protection have access to both provisions if they can give proof of having 5 years of previous residence in Italy. Statistics[4] show that these two provisions do not work equally for Italian and foreign families, but they exclude foreign families to a greater extent, with discriminatory effects: although the incidence of absolute poverty for foreign families (or families with foreign members) is almost six times higher than that of Italian-only families, only 9.5% of the families benefitting from the inclusion income and 6.9% of the people who received the support income for training and work in May 2024 were foreigners.
[1] Article 27 Qualification Decree.
[2] Article 2(1)(a)(2) Decree Law 4/2019.
[3] EUAA, Annual Asylum Report (2022), available at: https://bit.ly/43bVK4W, 55.
[4] https://bitly.cx/5tXFY