Times are now short and there are still many measures to be implemented. In the next Council of Ministers, scheduled for August 24, the Government will take stock of the agenda for the coming months. The elections will take place in the spring, but Prime Minister Mario Monti's well-founded fear is that the Executive will only have a real ability to maneuver between now and the end of the year. With 2013 the bloodiest phases of the electoral campaign will arrive, which will probably hinder the action of the Parliament. Nevertheless the Professor's team still has three fundamental chapters to write: the plan to reduce the public debt, the second installment of the spending review and the new interventions for growth.
On the latter front, the new provision (probably a decree) is being studied by the Minister of Economic Development, Corrado Passera. The text should include two interventions that have been under study for some time and which at the beginning were thought to be launched separately: the creation of the digital agenda and support for start-ups.
Il Development decree bis – on which the ministry's technicians have been working for a few weeks – should get the go-ahead by the end of September. The real problem, as always, is financial coverage. At the bottom of the barrel there are only two or three billion left, which is not much compared to the massive investments that these projects would require.
In particular, as regards the startups, the Government aims to select the best projects on which to concentrate the available resources (no more than a few tens of millions), which in turn should be channeled into a single fund. The dispersion of the capital available in various balance sheet items has so far prevented it from being used effectively and systematically. In addition, some simplifications in terms of procedures should also arrive in favor of new businesses.
The question ofdigital agenda it is however more complex. In addition to a series of tax breaks to encourage online commerce, it will be necessary to guarantee sufficient investments for the diffusion of broadband. The main objective is to make the relationship between the public administration, citizens and businesses entirely telematic. In detail, the aim is to bring basic broadband throughout the country by next year (spreading the 2 Mbps connection will cost 400 million, partly already allocated), also starting the coverage of the main urban centers with broadband technology ultra broadband (travelling at 100 Mbps).
Finally, alongside the re-edition of the Development decree, there will also be a new intervention for the bureaucratic simplification. So far, the business world has sent the ministry about 80 suggestions on possible rules to be cut or streamlined.
