quote:

The extraordinary bipartisan backing for the bill - which foresees crackdowns on proven idlers, widespread restructuring, and an increased monitoring of output - is a tacit acknowledgement that Italy's bureaucratic machine is at the root of the untold inefficiencies that discourage productivity and act as an added drag on an already sluggish economy.

Brunetta has even gone so far as to claim that a 10 percent increase in public administration efficiency could result in a two-percentage-point rise in gross domestic product.

When it comes to bureaucrats, there is, noted the Milan daily 24 Ore, little correlation between productivity and reward, or failure and punishment.

Between 2005 and 2007, over one million - or some 47 percent of all public-sector employees excluding teachers - received raises and/or promotions, the financial paper reported. In the case of revenue agencies and regional offices, according to statistics provided by the Treasury Ministry's State General Accounting Department, more than 90 percent of employees got promoted.

"It's an army of generals," wrote Marco Rogari in a front-page editorial. "Without anyone, even today, really knowing why."

Brunetta is not the first minister to tackle the chronic administrative inefficiencies. But previous attempts buckled under pressure from labor unions, who have their main power base in the public sector, as well as interests that have used the public sector as a social valve to offset unemployment.

In the air of general malaise pervading Italy, however, Brunetta seems to have capitalized on widespread frustration to forge - at least for the moment - a rare unanimity and will to actually get something done.

Brunetta loves to detail the latest outrage committed by deadbeat public servants, popularly known as fannulloni (slackers). There was the sick sanitation worker who was caught singing in a disco - after putting up promotional posters around town. And the judge who had taken nine months off because of a bad back, who was discovered training for a trans-Atlantic boat race.

When state workers saw their wages cut during the first days of sick leave, absenteeism plummeted. In September it was down 44.6 percent from the previous year, based on a sample of about a third of the 3.5 million public workers. October figures, due out soon, are expected to confirm the trend. "People are thinking twice," Brunetta said.

According to the minister, the Italian public sector costs about €300 billion, or $380 billion, to run, with nearly two-thirds going to salaries. His reforms, he believes, could save about €40 billion in three to five years, with savings going to reward productive workers.