One of the centre left's top leaders called for MPs salaries to be frozen on Tuesday amid a wave of anger directed at Italian political parties.
Democratic Left leader Piero Fassino wrote to the speakers of both parliamentary chambers, asking that the automatic salary rises built into MPs' salary system be blocked.
The 630 deputies in Italy's lower house cost the Italian taxpayer just under 22,000 euros a month each. They receive a monthly gross wage of almost 12,000 euros plus an expense account of 4,000 euros, an automatic reimbursement of almost 4,200 euros for electoral duties and a travel reimbursement of 1,600 euros.
"The credibility of people holding public office depends on the sobriety of their behaviour. Everything which appears to be a privilege can only irritate citizens and undermine their faith in politics and institutions," said Fassino, who heads the biggest party in Premier Romano Prodi's coalition.
Fassino's call came a day after a newspaper poll confirmed a groundswell of support for Beppe Grillo, a crusading comic whose campaign to purge parliament of MPs who have been in trouble with the law appears to be growing into an anti-political movement.
According to the poll in Corriere della Sera, 17% of Italians would vote for Grillo if he were to stand in elections and a further 33% would consider doing so.
The Genoa-born comedian has said he doesn't want to enter politics directly but he upped the tension at the weekend by announcing an initiative to give a 'Grillo stamp of approval' to non-political lists standing in local elections.
After Fassino's call, political opponents in the centre-right opposition accused him of trying to ride a wave of public sentiment unleashed by Grillo.
Meanwhile, Lower House Speaker Fausto Bertinotti announced that the salaries of House deputies had already been frozen and noted that the move predated Grillo's campaign by eight months.
Senate Speaker Franco Marini said that blocking wage increases for senators required the law on the issue to be changed. He said that personal initiatives by some senators who decided to give up salary increases voluntarily made no sense.
Politicians on both sides widened the debate by calling for measures to end the waste of public funds at all levels of government.
Justice Minister Clemente Mastella pointed out that the ministers in Prodi's government had slashed their salaries by 30% at the start of 2007.
Although a discussion on the cost of politics in Italy has been going on for some time, Grillo's recent attacks on the political system - and the applause they have won - have made it a hot issue.
V-DAY INITIATIVE.
Grillo leapt into the spotlight earlier this month when hundreds of thousands of Italians turned out to sign his petition aimed at purging parliament of MPs who have been in trouble with the law.
Grillo dubbed his Saturday initiative "V-Day" with V standing for Vaff... (f*** off) and directed at the many MPs currently sitting in parliament who have been convicted or are on trial.
Grillo relied entirely on his immensely popular blog - the most-read one in Italy and among the top 20 worldwide - to drum up support for the popular legislative initiative.
Legions of supporters set up impromptu stands in more than 220 Italian cities as well as dozens of foreign cities to collect the 50,000 signatures needed to lodge a petition for Grillo's Clean Parliament Law.
Grillo's campaign struck a chord with many Italians and came at a time of growing public dissatisfaction with politicians, slammed by many critics as pampered, overpaid and out of touch with reality.
The political class has been dubbed The Caste following the success of a book of the same name which exposed the inflated cost of politics and MPs's perks and privileges.
