A bill ending life-long monthly booster pensions of 1,000 euros for members of the Italian parliament who serve a single five-year term now passes to the upper house Senate after it was approved by the lower house on Wednesday.
If the Senate backs the bill, the pensions of former parliamentarians will be calculated on the basis of the social security contributions paid during their working lives, and their retirement age will be the same as for regular Italian state pensions.
The bill was tabled by Matteo Richetti, an MP from the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and was backed by the PD, and by the Five-Star Movement and the anti-immigrant Northern League party - both anti-establishment parties.
The centre-right Forza Italia party of former premier and billionaire media mogul Silvio Berlusconi abstained from the vote, while the centrist Popular Alternative party - a junior partner in Italy's ruling coalition - opposed the bill.
Many working class Italians have to work their whole lives to get a similar pension to the one Italian parliamentarians accrue after serving a single legislature - a disparity that rankles with ordinary citizens who view these annuities for lawmakers as an outrageous and unjust symbol of political privilege.
About 6 million Italians currently draw pensions of less than 1,000 euros, according to state pensions fund INPS.
Italy's current legislature is scheduled to end in March, 2018.