Italy: Government plans to amend labour market flexibility law

In June 2007, the minister of labour, Cesare Damiano, announced that the centre-left government intends to modify the "Biagi law", a series of measures introduced in 2003 by the previous centre-right government to increase the flexibility of the Italian labour market.

There is considerable controversy over the effects of the Biagi law, which created a range of new forms of flexible employment contract and modified the rules on some existing contracts.