The 90,000 state-owned vehicles in Italy, including limousines used by officials, are costing Italian taxpayers some 4 billion euros (5 billion dollars) a year, dpa cited the country's public administration minister as denouncing today. "I think the same things can be achieved by spending half of this (amount)," Minister Renato Brunetta said. He was referring to the "autoblu" - so called by Italians because of the navy blue colour usually denoting such vehicles. The office of Italy''s state president, as well as those of the speakers of the two houses of parliament - the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies - have been instructed to monitor the use made of the "autoblu," Brunetta said. The minister also said he plans to introduce sanctions and fines for those officials who make an improper use of flashing lights and sirens and who transgress traffic regulations while they, or their chauffeurs, are at the wheel of such vehicles. Brunetta has been spearheading a campaign in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government to cut costs and increase efficiency in the public sector, including curbing work-place absenteeism by civil servants.
