Italian students demand more funding amid cost of living crisis

Hundreds of students demanded more funding for education and opposed high rents in a protest organised outside an event attended by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Turin on Tuesday.

Speaking on the final day of the Festival of Regions and Autonomous Provinces in Turin, Meloni was joined by several ministers. While the event aimed to strengthen the role of regions and provinces, Meloni spoke of her government’s achievements and praised the National Recovery and Resilience Plan as a unique development opportunity for Italy.

“We have to be able to best spend all the resources because we don’t have many and there are so many things to do (…) Our goal is to have a more competitive nation in a short period of time,” Meloni said.

But Meloni’s visit to Turin did not please everyone as hundreds of students greeted her with the banner: “Meloni, you are not welcome in Turin”. Students are demanding funds for cheaper rents, school and university, and “not for war”, referring to Ukraine.

Protests against high rents have been going on for weeks, with hundreds of students camping out in front of university buildings in Turin, but also in Milan, Rome, Florence, Bologna and Cagliari. Finding accommodation to attend courses in the big cities has become increasingly difficult, and the government has so far taken no action to address the situation.

According to a recent report by the Immobiliare.it platform, rents reached the highest average price in the last two years in June. At the same time, there has been a steady increase in demand compared to 2021 in almost all the main university centres, with a few exceptions. Compared to 2021, room prices have experienced a significant new upward push, with very few exceptions.

“This trend will require further sacrifices from families to ensure the best educational and/or professional opportunities for their children. It will be necessary for institutions to think about how to continue to ensure the important welcoming role of the country’s large urban centres”, comments Carlo Giordano, Board Member of Immobiliare.it.

“Otherwise, it is likely that these will become the exclusive preserve of those segments of the population that can count on savings accumulated over the years, to the detriment of younger people, the driving force of society”, he added.

Tuesday’s protests were also joined by social centres and violent activists, who rapidly turned violent and had to be dispersed by a police cordon. One demonstrator was hit on the head with a baton.

(Federica Pascale | Euractiv.it)