Public-sector manager pay to be cut says Renzi

Move will drive top civil servants out claims rail chief

(ANSA) - Rome, March 21 - Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Friday confirmed plans to cap salaries of public-sector managers at or below the quarter of a million euros Italian President Giorgio Napolitano gets.

Some of the fattest cats in Italy's bloated public sector earn three or four times what the head of State is paid. Giovanni Giorgio Tempini, CEO of government saving and loan trust Cassa Depositi e Prestiti takes home 1.035 million euros every year, compared to Napolitano's annual stipend of 248,000 euros. Italian railways chief Mauro Moretti gets 873,666 euros a year. "I confirm the spending review on public-sector managers," Renzi said at an EU summit.

Moretti said lower pay for the highest-flying civil servants would force them into the private sector, prompting critics of his stewardship of Italy's railway system to say "good riddance, let's see what he gets".

But the Ferrovie dello Stato CEO added that he was counting on Renzi's promise to carry out the pay review "reasonably".