Elsa Fornero

thumb|Elsa Fornero at the 2012 Trento Economic Festival Elsa Maria Fornero (born 7 May 1948) is an Italian economist, university lecturer, and politician who served as Minister of Labour and Social Policies in the Monti Cabinet from November 2011 to April 2013. Quotes i vincoli finanziari oggi sono severissimi: nessuna riforma nell'anno della sua introduzione da risparmi. E' un meccanismo lungo. E allora abbiamo dovuto, e ci è costato anche psicologicamente, chiedere un sacr.. The financial constraints today are extremely tight: no reform in the year it is introduced will lead to savings. It's a long process. So we had to ask for a sacrifice, and it also took its toll on us psychologically. Quoted in Pensioni, le lacrime della Fornero, la Repubblica, 4 December 2011. There is also another area I would be interested in working on. I am referring to an educational project aimed at combating the commodification of the image of women. This is an issue that is more pronounced in our country than in others, as there is undoubtedly a tendency across all media to promote a certain image of women and to commodify their bodies. Here, too, we need to learn from experiences that have worked elsewhere. It is therefore necessary to incorporate the gender dimension into educational projects, so that it becomes natural to accept diversity, and not just gender diversity. A project like this should enable us to monitor messages, advertisements and school textbooks to ensure that they convey a message about gender that is as accurate as possible. Of course, we are not calling for any kind of censorship: I have set out this idea very clearly precisely because I would not want to be labelled an obscurantist. I am talking about educational projects that can engage children and adolescents and that make them aware that diversity is a normal part of life, which should be accepted without insinuations or unhelpful ulterior motives. Quoted in Senate of the Italian Republic – 16th Legislature – 1st Standing Committee (Constitutional Affairs) - Seduta n. 349 del 24 gennaio 2012 (pom.) – Announcements by the Minister for Labour and Social Policies, with responsibility for equal opportunities, on policy guidelines, Italian Senate, 24 January 2012. Of course, I am fully committed to this issue, which includes discrimination against homosexuals    and transgender people. The issue is one of rights. Rights are important, and people should not be discriminated against because of their differences. We must be fully committed to combating discrimination and its causes, even among children. This cannot be the responsibility of the minister and the ministry alone; it must be an issue that is disseminated throughout the country and becomes part of what children learn from an early age. Children need to learn that diversity is a value, not an obstacle. I will seek to work with Minister Profumo, with whom I have already had informal contact, because the seeds are sown above all among children in schools. Quoted in Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic – 16th Legislature – Bulletin of Parliamentary Committees and Groups – Joint Committees (I Constitutional Affairs and XI Public and Private Employment) – Tuesday, 31 January 2012 – Audizione del Ministro del lavoro e delle politiche sociali, Elsa Fornero, sulle linee programmatiche del suo dicastero in materia di pari opportunità. I'm sorry that Brancaccio didn't get the chance to form a government. He would certainly have demonstrated much greater abilities than mine. Since he was my student, perhaps he learned something. Dibattito Fornero-Brancaccio su pensioni e lavoro, Video available on Youtube.com, min. 10:09. Today, families form and break up; civil partnerships ask to be recognised as families; same-sex couples live together and ask for the same thing. We need to make an effort to distinguish between what can be attributed to a traditional value system and an open-minded view in which everyone is asking for rights. +:*éQuoted in Francesca Angeli, Fornero apre ai gay ed è subito polemica "Deve pensare al welfare", il Giornale.it, 17 May 2012. We are trying to protect people, not their jobs. People's attitudes need to change. Work is not a right: it has to be earned, including through sacrifice. Quoted in Corinna De Cesare, Fabio Savelli, Bufera Fornero: «Il lavoro non è un diritto» La Camera dà il via libera alla riforma, Corriere.it, 27 June 2012. So, we carried out a pension reform in 15 days, not by choice but out of necessity. Reforms are never perfect, not even those that take a year or a year and a half of parliamentary debate. I would like people to remember, in a very, very calm way, that that reform was essential to save the country from the financial crisis and, along with the country, to save our place in Europe and in the eurozone. Quoted in the TV programme L'aria che tira (La7) - 27 February 2015, min 25:47, La 7. Interviewer: Recently, the Consulta rejected the freeze on pension indexation proposed by the Monti government, of which you were a minister. How did you react to the ruling? Fornero: I have to admit, it surprised me. My initial reaction was accompanied by a bitter realisation: clearly, our Constitution does not protect the younger generations. And even less so future generations. You see, the pension system is a pact between generations, entrusted to the state precisely so that it can protect everyone. This ruling, on the other hand, felt to me like a step back in time. To a time when acquired rights were considered inviolable, regardless of who had to bear the cost. Quoted in Marco Sarti, Pensioni, parla Elsa Fornero: «Ora basta far pagare il conto ai giovani», Linkiesta.it, 21 May 2015. Let us first add one thing: pension reforms are not carried out by looking to the past, i.e., by trying to protect, as far as possible, generous benefits in relation to the contributions paid. Quoted in Intervista ad Elsa Fornero di Ivan Lagrosa, Neosonline.info, 15 June 2015. Quotes about Does 'Ms' Elsa Fornero still have the nerve to speak? She praises Renzi, defends his appalling pension 'reform' (which, thanks to the Lega, will be scrapped), and says that Italy is a 'fascist' country. She should be EXILED to a desert island!  Matteo Salvini, from a post in the Facebook profile, 10 May 2015. External links Fornero, Elsa Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:Economists from Italy Category:Women politicians in Italy Category:Government ministers Category:Women born in the 1940s