A storm erupted in Italy on Sunday when a newspaper reported that the populist government was planning to cut its monthly stipend for victims of political and racial discrimination.

The story sparked uproar in the Jewish community, with the measure reportedly set to affect the elderly, including Holocaust survivors, who suffered from persecution under the fascist regime during World War II, as well as war veterans.

Italian newspaper La Stampa reported on a clause buried in the appendix of the proposed 2019 budget, saying it could become effective as early as November or December. The daily said the move would affect several thousand Italian citizens.

Responding to the story, Union of Jewish Communities President Noemi Di Segni said: “As the institution representing all Italian Jews, we call on the parliament and the government to reconsider the measure,” adding: “Even if the timing and calculations [of the cuts] are still not clear, the moral aspect is at the heart of the problem.”

She continued: “We are not even brave enough to tell the survivors what’s going on [with the cuts] – these people who struggle to tell the horrors of the Holocaust in their families, in front of students and teachers,” Di Segni said. “We don’t want to see that sense of desolation and abandonment in their eyes,” she added.

However, on Monday, the Finance Ministry issued a clarification, saying it would only be diverting “excess” money (a reported 50 million euros), from the special fund, and that the move would therefore not affect people who are already receiving the payments.

The special fund at the ministry provides minimal pensions – averaging around 500 euros a month – to victims born before 1945, or spouses and orphans of the persecuted whose income is below 17,000 euros a year, said La Stampa.

The Union of Jewish Communities – the country’s EJC affiliate – said Monday that it welcomed the clarification, saying that “according to the updates” the cuts are only adjustments due to “the natural decrease in the number of beneficiaries.”

However, it added it will continue fighting to make access to such pensions easier. Meanwhile, critics both inside and outside the Jewish community insisted the cuts were symbolically unacceptable regardless of their reach.

Rome’s new governing coalition was formed last spring by the far-right, anti-immigration League party and the grassroots antiestablishment populists of the Five Star Movement. This is their first budget.