The Italian business of the stage

stageur The super stage of the Regional Council of Calabria doesn't seem to have taught anything. It was a program for the best young graduates in the region, paid 1,000 euros per month for 24 months. The stage, however, did not respect any of the rules concerning internships and despite the debate and questions to the Ministry, went on. Today, it has been even copied and now there's another one in Basilicata, too.

This time the organization has been more careful, but many, especially at the beginning, were sure it was just a new mean of electoral campaign. If it were not, as in Calabria, the Repubblica degli Stagisti website to find the news and act as a sounding board, today nobody would know about this.
The Regional Council of Basilicata, without being scared by the Calabria case, approved a program of training internships for a thousand people unemployed or inactive.
The job advertisement would expire on 15 March, but then came the extension until 30 April. The job advertisement provides 12 months of internship for a total of 1430 hours of training, of which 1,248 (almost 90%) to be performed at the 250 local offices involved.
Interns are going to take an allowance of 6.05 euro per hour, so about 770 euros a month. Not bad in times of crisis.
But there are a few problems. First, the period of the stage: on the contrary of Calabria, where they provided a 24 months stage, this time in Basilicata they planned only 12 months. It would seem everything in order with the Ministerial Decree 142/1998 which regulates the work experiences. The problem is the stage in Basilicata is open to unemployed while the limit of the 12-month internship is planned for graduates. If the internship is open to unemployed then, according to the regulation, should last no longer than six months.
And there's always the age problem: the intern can be from a minimum of 18 years to a maximum of 39, maybe too older to be interns.
Some people like Franco Mollica, Movement for Autonomy (MPA), says these training placements are a clear case of fraud to the European Social Fund. Fifteen million euro will be used to ensure 770 euro per month to 1000 unemployed for a year. But, according to Mollica, "All that money could be used to create jobs for an indefinite period without giving rise to false expectations among young people.

Pietro Ichino, labor lawyer and Pd senator, who already had dealt with Superstage in Calabria (without receiving any response from the relevant ministers), indicates that events like this show as in the south there is "a very serious strain welfarism of labor market policies and more General government expenditure".
Ichino then submitted a parliamentary question to Minister Maurizio Sacconi (Labor) and Renato Brunetta (Civil) to account for this situation and for the possible effects, especially if it were to end (as in Calabria), with the compulsory recruitment of Interns in public offices of Basilicata.
Antonio Autilia, regional minister for work, does not like Ichino accusations and he says these stages won't create any expectation of employment because "the regional program clarifies beyond doubt that the conduct of placements are not conditions or secure access in the roles of public administration".
Yet it seems hard to believe that they will not repeat the mistakes of Calabria, where they are preparing a contract for the activation of public employment relations at the end of three years reserved essentially for young people who had benefited from the stage outside the law.
The response to labor lawyer Ichino could come only from the ministers questioned. But because he had not received any response in the past, is more likely he wont' have any one in this case, too.