It was to be expected. Until recently, Renzi was accused of excessive haste and of putting too much iron on the fire. Now, suddenly, he is being accused of having lost momentum in his reformist commitment and of risking settling into the routine of "getting by" of Andreotti's memory. Corriere della Sera champions this new state of mind first with Michele Salvati who, carried away by his now total pessimism, predicts the PD's inability to complete the reforms. Then Alesina and Giavazzi, see in the just approved Def, a surrender by Renzi to the parties and corporations that oppose any change, so much so as to induce the Government to give up any strong reformist direction to fall back on small gimmicks like that of the "treasure". .
It cannot be said that the concerns and remarks of the various professors are completely unfounded. It is true that the Def is proceeding along the right path of reducing the tax burden and reforming the public sector, but it does so in too modest a way, at the pace of the bureaucracy and not with what the dramatic employment situation would require. The wing stroke is missing. There is a lack of a strong proposal for reform of the public spending sector that goes beyond the necessary spending review. There is a lack of will or ability to offer Italians a complete renewal of welfare, from universities to healthcare, up to the necessary unification of the police forces, and the profound revision of justice.
But the rebuke is sent to the wrong address. On closer inspection, it is the tangle of economic and political interests that have caged Italian society, which through slowness and sometimes parliamentary filibustering are slowing down the pace of reforms in an unacceptable way. And almost always parliamentary amendments, far from being ameliorative, simply tend to attenuate the innovative drive of the provision under discussion, with the intention, often successful in the past, of letting a reform pass that leaves everything as it was. Just look at what happened in the commission during the six months of discussion of the Madia proposal for reform of the PA.
Renzi seems well-intentioned not to resign himself to the routine of power, but perhaps opinion leaders should better explain to people what game is being played and who the real brakemen are, in order to consolidate consensus in favor of changes. Because one thing is certain: without consensus, reforms cannot be done. Which says a lot about all the talk about authoritarian democracy that so many politicians, driven by selfish interests, are spreading, trying to poison the improvement in the climate of trust among Italians, which is also slowly spreading.
Politically Renzi is now forced to bet all his cards on the reform of the electoral law, attacked with clearly instrumental arguments (that is, totally unfounded and aimed only at not giving the Government yet another success). It is evident that Italy, as Michele Salvati says, suffers from various diseases, all quite serious, and that it will take time and courage to cure them. But where to start? If the correct functioning of the institutions and therefore of the bureaucracy is not restored, any reform, even one that manages to overcome the obstacles of the corporations represented in Parliament, would then be sunk by the inability of the offices to put it into practice.
In this regard, see the fate of the provision, financed by the EU, on youth unemployment. Not to mention our chronic inability to do public works which everyone invokes as a panacea for our unemployment. And here comes the problem of our relations with Brussels.
Certainly, in a situation like the current one, the rigid rules of the fiscal compact could be relaxed, especially for countries like Germany that don't have problems with structural imbalances. But also for Italy, given the very low interest rates, does it really make sense to force the march towards a balanced budget? Why do we have to bring the structural deficit almost to balance starting next year? Couldn't we gamble for a point of GDP (15 billion Euros) to try to accelerate growth by getting closer to 2% as soon as possible? The problem for us is not only to convince Brussels, but also to establish how to get this extra money towards investments and not throw it into the usual unproductive cauldron of current expenses.
The Def is not yet a document that outlines the policies to be implemented in detail. These are general lines that can be clarified and strengthened as we proceed with the reforms that must give a perspective of improving Italian competitiveness. But above all, especially intellectuals, they cannot get caught up in the anxiety of immediate results. At this moment we have to hold on by confirming a policy that without head-turning is able to consolidate the trust of our partners and international investors.
To do this, we must pass the reforms starting with the electoral one, now in the final phase. A postponement of the approval of the Italicum with a new passage to the Senate (where the majority) is less solid, would give Renzi a blow, making all international observers once again doubt about Italy's real will to carry out the reforms.
