Two hundred and forty-eight billion in total, six missions, structural reforms for a country that is still burning, brought to its knees by a pandemic that continues to claim victims and cause fear. Mario Draghi faces the trial of the Chamber – yesterday the Chamber, today it will be the turn of the Senate – and marks the trust he has in Italy, in his country, the same trust that he poured out last Saturday, an interminable day, in the telephone conversation with the president of the EU Commission Ursula Von der Leyen, overcoming the resistance on the Recovery plan developed by Italy.
After having illustrated the PNRR yesterday, today the premier replies in the Chamber, then the vote. In the afternoon the passage to the Senate is expected.
The session opens amid some political controversy -Fdi leader and immediately behind the component of former grillini ‘L’Alternativa c’e’ and the leader of Si Nicola Fratoianni- on the tight deadlines granted to Parliament, with a very long text, over 300 pages to rewrite the future of the country, modified just two hours before the intervention of the Prime Minister in the Chamber. Draghi listens attentively and therefore begins communications a few minutes late, with a steady gaze, remembering that behind numbers, timing, tables and missions of Pnrr there is much more, there is the life of the Italians, the future of the country, especially of children and young people who have been denied even the classrooms, closed by the pandemic.
The former issue of the ECB, called to lead Italy a little over two months ago, addresses Parliament, the “republican spirit”, invites us to overcome partisan interests and shortsightedness. Draghi knows well that the Chambers will be decisive in this game, with a very tight timing – just 8 months – to implement reforms that have always awaited and have always been at stake. And that will be decisive, as he points out in his speech, to obtain those 222 billion that Brussels will release a little at the time – two tranches a year – but only if Italy has done its homework.
This is why, at the beginning of his speech, Draghi recalls the sense of responsibility, pointing out how it would be unforgivable, for the future of the country, to think about partisan interests. In the Pnrr, invites the Prime Minister, “put the lives of Italians into it, ours but above all those of young people, women, and citizens to come. The expectations of those who have suffered most from the devastating effects of the pandemic. The aspirations of families. worried about the education and the future of their children. The just demands of those who do not have a job or have lost it. The worries of those who have had to close their business to allow us all to curb the contagion. L ‘anxiety of the disadvantaged territories to free themselves from hardships and poverty. The awareness of each community that the environment must be protected and respected “.
“But, in the set of programs that I am presenting to your attention today, there is also and above all the destiny of the country. The measure of what its role will be in the international community. Its credibility and reputation as founder of the European Union and protagonist of the Western world “. The PNRR “is therefore not only a question of income, work, well-being, but also of civic values, of the feelings of our national community that no number, no table can ever represent. I say this so that it is clear that, in carrying out the projects, delays, inefficiencies, short-sighted views of part before the common good will weigh directly on our lives. Above all on those of the weakest citizens and on our children and grandchildren. And perhaps there will no longer be time to remedy them “.
Now or never, therefore urges Draghi, aware of the fibrillations that move his majority, and which could become even more vigorous when the blank semester opens. A single quote is allowed, which goes in this direction: it is that of Alcide De Gasperi, who in 1943 remarked that ‘the functioning of economic democracy requires disinterest, just as that of political democracy presupposes the virtue of character. The work of renewal will fail, if disinterested men do not arise in all categories, in all centers, ready to work hard and sacrifice themselves for the common good ‘.
“The success of the Plan – remarked the Prime Minister – requires a joint effort by the various institutions involved and an open and constructive dialogue”. And it sets goals that Italy will have to achieve. First of all, “repairing the economic and social damage of the pandemic crisis”. Draghi rattles off the numbers of a tragedy that “has affected us more than our European neighbors”. Almost 120,000 deaths from Covid-19, “to which are added the many never recorded”. GDP collapsed by 8.9% in 2020, employment dropped by 2.8%, with young people and women paying the highest price for this crisis. And Italy that comes out dramatically impoverished. “Between 2005 and 2019 – the prime minister points out – the number of people below the absolute poverty line rose from 3.3 to 7.7%, and then increased to 9.4% in 2020”.
The Recovery plan offers an opportunity to address “some weaknesses that have plagued our economy and our society for decades: persisting territorial gaps, gender disparities, weak productivity growth and low investment in human and physical capital. Finally, , the resources of the Plan contribute to boosting a complete ecological transition “. And here, the emphasis on reform is key. “These not only allow the investments themselves to be effective and rapidly implemented, but also to overcome the structural weaknesses that have long slowed growth and resulted in unsatisfactory employment levels, especially for young people and women”.
But if Italy wins, if it carries out the reforms, if therefore it obtains the resources to face the investments that the NRP plans, “in 2026 the GDP will be about 3.6 percentage points higher than a reference scenario that does not hold. account of the implementation of the Plan “. Employment will grow by “3.2 percentage points compared to the base scenario in the three-year period 2024-2026”, and “the acceleration of growth can be greater than what is reported in the NRP if we are able to implement effective reforms aimed at improving the competitiveness of the our economy “.
Draghi also takes stock of ‘governance’, one of the nerve centers of the NRP to the point of decreeing the end of the Conte government, with the Renzians on the barricades. “It is structured on different levels – explains the premier – The implementation of initiatives and reforms, as well as the management of financial resources, are the responsibility of the Ministries and local authorities, who are called to an extraordinary commitment in terms of organization, planning and management. The monitoring, control and reporting functions and the contacts with the European Commission are entrusted to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Finally, a control room is foreseen at the Presidency of the Council, with the task, among other things, of speak with the responsible administrations in case of criticalities in the implementation of the Plan “. Therefore to push if someone were to slow down, putting at risk the objectives that the PNRR sets itself.
The Prime Minister gets to the heart of the Plan. He illustrates the missions one by one, describing the Italy to come, how the PNRR will change the face of the country. Digitization, with wired classrooms, telemedicine, smart businesses; the green revolution, with an Italy finally attentive to its fragile balance, the push towards renewable energies, the energy efficiency of public and private buildings. And, on this, he sends the signal that the M5S, but also Fi, have asked him: on the 110% superbonus “there is no cut”, he reassures.
So he focuses on the infrastructures chapter, with a careful eye on the railway network which, especially in the south and on the regional sections, struggles; on education and research, with 32 billion to invest; on active policies at work, with a keen eye on young people and women, on the need to break the ‘glass ceiling’ that keeps them nailed, far from top positions; and then health, with the spotlight on by the pandemic, almost 19 billion to change the pace of healthcare, to stop short-sighted policies that have led over the years to the progressive dismantling of the NHS.
Recovery plan means rewriting the basic rules, but also offering an unprecedented opportunity to the country. With more nursery schools and more nursery schools, funds for female entrepreneurship, overcoming the barriers that make life impossible for the disabled, family policies that reverse the course of a country that ages and no longer has children: “less than 1, 3 children for each woman – Draghi recalls – against almost 1.6 for the EU average “. “To enable our young people to form a family, we must respond to three of their requests: adequate welfare, a home and a safe job”, the premier reasoned.
And then the South. The need to bridge a gap that has always been talked about but which always remains there, in front of our eyes. “It is not a question of bell towers – Draghi makes clear – if the south grows, so does Italy. More than 50% of the total investments in infrastructures – especially the high-speed railway and the port system – are directed to the south “.
To achieve the Italy that Draghi and his government envisioned, reforms must be implemented. Starting with the Public Administration, passing through a potentially divisive reform such as that of justice. With ambitious objectives to be achieved: “to reduce trial times by 40 percent for the civil sector and at least 25 percent for the criminal”, explains the prime minister. And then implement “a continuous and systematic work”, no less complex, “of abrogation and modification of the rules that curb competition, create position rents and negatively affect the well-being of citizens. These principles are essential for the success of the Plan: we must prevent the funds we are about to invest from going only to the monopolists “, the premier makes clear.
To succeed in all this, a majority is needed to row in the same direction, Draghi knows it well and shows confidence. “I am sure that we will be able to implement this Plan. I am sure that honesty, intelligence, the taste for the future will prevail over corruption, stupidity, vested interests. This certainty is not reckless optimism, but trust in the Italians, in my people, in our ability to work together when the emergency calls us to solidarity, to responsibility. It is with the confidence that this appeal to the republican spirit will be heard, and that it will translate into the construction of our future, that I present this Plan to Parliament today “.