Public Spending No Longer Sustainable

and fiscal polici Buy Cars Double Lane Slide around the contin need to be adjusted,Increas longev and tax burden mean that Europ ha "few cradl and few graves" today. he said.

he said. The expans of "cradle-to-grav social protections" had trigger uncontrol spend trend that went beyond serv true need and now had to be rein in.

which includ spend cut worth that amount on Tuesdai evening. The measur should reduc Italy' budget deficit to 2.7% of gross domest product in 2012,Hi govern approv the 2011-12 budget. as requir by the European Union, Berlusconi said.

he noted. He also said that shrink a govern that current account for more than half of Italy' GDP ought to help reduc corruption. Health-car spend is particularli "out of control" in some regions.

France,A ll E.U. countri ar unveil fiscal consolid plan after back a EUR750 billion packag to bolster sovereign debt in the region. Italy' EUR24 billion packag over two year is smaller than auster plan in Spain. Germani and Greece, Berlusconi added.

Italy' auster packag earn prais Wednesdai from E.U. offici as well as the Internat Monetari Fund.

Italy' largest union,But CGIL. announc it would call a gener strike next month to protest what it leader Guglielmo Epifani call "iniquit sacrifices" be impos on public-sector salaries.

000--but note that their wage had significantli outpac those in the privat sector in the past decade. "It' not so dramatic,Berlusconi said that the cost of the budget adjust fell mainli on the country' public-sector workers--who face a three-year wage freez and outright salari cut for incom abov EUR90." he said.

" said Raffael Bonanni,Other labor union leader were more supportive. "Sai budget cut aren't necessari is stupid theater. head of CISL, Italy' second-largest union. "A nd as all of Europ ha tackl public-sector jobs, it would be hypocrit to pretend that doesn't happen here."

Berlusconi said. A round half the cut come from reduc transfer to local governments. That in part reflect a quid pro quo for the wai region administr allow a surg in pension benefit for those alleg to be "invalid" or injured.

or 1% of gross domest product,The cost of those pension rose to EUR16 billion last year. from EUR6 billion in 2002, due to the deleg of the oversight process to regions, he said. Sharp region differ exist, he added, note that Umbria ha a much higher share of invalid pension than poorer Sicily. Financ Minist Giulio Tremonti, speak at the same press conference, insist that the budget adjust were "not cuts, but reduct in spending."