Could it have been a different August?
A first, important measure of contrast to the recovery of the growth rate of the pandemic arrived late, with the decree to close the discos. From this aspect I would like to start with some reflections that extend to government initiatives, to the Recovery Fund, to the reaction of our country.
A "wild August"
The increase in infections and the rate of transmission seems to be determined by what we could define as an "unbridled" August. Overcrowded beaches (reading the local newspapers it would seem that they have never been as crowded as this year), discos and other meeting places filled to capacity. Then there are the returning tourists, that is, the Italians who have seen fit to go and spend their holidays abroad, as if the recommendations, the precautions (and common sense?) were no longer valid. Let us also add caregivers and other foreign workers who have spent their holidays in their countries of origin (in the Balkans, for example, where the pandemic is raging) and are now gradually returning.
In the list, it is not an oversight, I have neglected to mention foreigners on holiday in Italy, their impact in fact appears negligible. Just at the end of July, ENIT, the National Agency for Tourism, estimated fifty-five million fewer tourists for this year, equal to a 55% decrease compared to last year. From Germany, cancellations to Italy in the last two months have fluctuated between -83,7% and -75,7%, in France canceled bookings have been between -64,9 and -79,1%, in United Kingdom from -86,5% to -90,6%. Therefore, our European neighbors who are also heavily affected by the pandemic, have been careful not to plan trips to Italy.
We are therefore talking about a holiday and an epidemic, all homegrown
In this context of national holiday, it is perhaps appropriate to remember that in December, the Italian economy will have reached a negative peak unprecedented in recent decades. Estimates give a GDP of -14,3% (source ISTAT, in line with the OECD which estimates -14,0%, while the Bank of Italy forecasts -13,1%). Precisely this exceptional situation had led the Italian Government to a long and harsh negotiation with the EU, eventually managing to obtain funds for 173 billion, 82 of these non-repayable.
What does the Government intend to do with the funds obtained?
Having celebrated the historic victory against austere Europe, the issue simply disappeared from the news and presumably from the political agendas. Before and after the date of the agreement on the Recovery Fund, the Government limited itself to passing a series of decrees, one after the other and all with the same approach. Micro rain incentives, palliatives, holiday bonuses and bike bonuses included.
Beyond the ephemeral impact on the economy, they appear for what they are: little tricks thought up by those who lack a broader design, while the interest seems to be aimed mainly at the electoral base. Had it not been so, would the opening of bars, discos and bingo halls have really seemed indispensable? Wouldn't it have been more responsible to think about controlling the pandemic in view of truly critical moments, such as, for example, that of the reopening of schools, towards which we are heading unprepared and unaware?
National dignity
During the negotiation with the EU, the Frugal countries appeared so hostile towards Italy, as to arouse many anti-European sentiments. Were they actually right? Maybe they were thinking about what is happening, that once the Recovery Fund was obtained, Italy would continue to act indulging in the worst clichés, those who consider our country superficial and spendthrift.
Mention has been made of the worrying silence of the Government, as well as of the even more disturbing absence of ideas from the parties. What about businesses? Civil society? Just two months ago there was talk, between companies and trade unions, of the possibility to work in August, to recover the orders received during the lockdown period. We remember that Mid-August is not celebrated in Holland or in Germany or in the UK (just to mention a few countries close to us).
Wouldn't it have sounded like a test of good will to give up holidays this year, perhaps accumulating them all at the end of the year and try to recover some turnover? Wouldn't it be important to imagine, for once, a mobilization of resources with the aim of relaunching the economy of our country? Perhaps by setting a personal, national objective, not dependent on European aid, of recovering GDP by the end of the year? Even just a +0,0 and something %? A serious commitment, to be undertaken at the level of each individual economic operator and of the country as a whole?
I think it would have been a source of national pride and dignity and a direct answer to the Frugals' doubts. Finally, what about the company? The sense of responsibility of the Italians, celebrated many times by the government and the press during the lockdown period: did it disappear or was it never there? Yesterday all at home and today all crowded on beaches, etc. Perhaps instead of the virtuous civic sense, the cars of the carabinieri, the police, the traffic police, who roamed the deserted streets to dissuade the violation of the lock down rules, acted more effectively?
I've read comments from parents who said it was right that their children tested by the high school exam (this year later…) should go on vacation. Also catching the Coronavirus abroad, on beaches and trendy discos. We read these days that the (premature) harvest will be difficult, also due to the absence of immigrant workers. It is to be expected that similar difficulties will arise just in a month or so, for the olive harvest.
Grapes and olives, two great Italian excellences
Couldn't it have been given to young people the opportunity to participate in the grape harvest and in the picking and pressing of the olives? There are many, young Italians and Europeans, who go to work in Australia in December, where it is summer, to pick fruit and vegetables, live in collective structures, earn money which they will use on their return, for study and for leisure . Would it have been so difficult to mobilize them on a concrete objective? Is this just a lack of ideas?
Hard to tell. Certainly, today, we live in a world in which those who do politics are abysmally separated from reality, are not prepared and have no ability to attract, fascinate, catalyze interests. He doesn't know how to talk to young people. So while one goes to beg, with more or less coherent motivations, for aid from Europe, one is unable to express any type of design or project capable of strengthening the unity of a nation.
Incentives are distributed to the people to spend money, instead of ideas and values to arouse in everyone the pride and pride of being able to give them back, one day, that money, even going, why not, to harvest. In a year of pandemic.
