The clarification of the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, on coronabonds, was not liked by the Government, which replied practically in real time, taking advantage of the press conference on the new aid launched for Municipalities and citizens to deal with the emergency. After Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte communicated that the Government will immediately turn over 4,3 billion to the Municipalities and 400 million to the Civil Protection, to be used for people who do not have the money to go shopping, Minister Roberto Gualtieri in fact replied to Von der Leyen, who had frozen the expectations of Italy and other countries in the midst of a crisis a little earlier: "Coronabonds are a slogan, we are not working on it ”, said the EU president, effectively backtracking on the “whatever it takes” of a few days ago.
"Von der Leyen's words are wrong, I'm sorry he said them – commented Gualtieri dryly -. May Europe rise to the challenge: there is a symmetrical shock on the economy, we need a Marshall Plan for reconstruction“. Even Prime Minister Conte himself had intervened on the European debate: “Europe must show that it is worthy of history. We have not made a proposal to the Commission, but to the Eurogroup which has 14 days to elaborate more than one. There is an ongoing debate and I accept it, but I am clear: I will fight to the end for a strong, vigorous and cohesive European solution”. In the evening, however, the President of the European Commission backtracked saying: "We are not excluding any option within the limits of the Treaty, we will propose an increase in the budget to respond to the crisis". Words that were also appreciated by the Italian government and in the first place by Gualtieri.
“No one will be left alone – Conte had instead said when opening the conference, in communicating the contents of the new Dpcm -. We are working to eliminate bureaucracy, we are doing the impossible. The state is there. We know that there are many people who suffer, there are those who even have difficulty buying food. I signed the Dpcm and we are transferring 4,3 billion to the Municipalities, to which we add 400 million with an order from the Civil Protection with the constraint of using these sums for people who do not have the money to go shopping. From here, shopping vouchers and food supplies will be born. Indeed, I'm launching an appeal to large-scale retailers to give people in difficulty a further discount, at their own expense, of 5 or 10%. We want to put everyone the beneficiaries of the Redundancy Fund in a position to access it immediately, by April 15, and if possible even earlier”.
The premier also intervened on some of the outstanding issues, clarifying – as was in the air and logical – that schools will not reopen on April 3, although there has not yet been an official decision on whether or not to extend the restrictive measures. During the day there were rumors of a 15-day extension (therefore until April 18), but the Government will decide in the next few days: "We will discuss it with the technicians", guaranteed Conte, suggesting that the reflection is underway, even if it seems the hypothesis of insisting for a further period is inevitable. Also the government is uncertain about the reopening of the factories: part of the political forces are asking for production to be restarted as soon as possible, the Government is still taking a few hours to decide.
