"Unity at the moment is a duty": this is how Prime Minister Mario Draghi concluded his intervention in the Senate to present the programmatic lines of the new Government, which in the evening gave him their confidence with 262 Yes, 40 No (including about fifteen of the Five Stars) and 2 abstentions. Draghi's speech lasted 51 minutes, just 4 less than that held by his predecessor Giuseppe Conte in his speech on the occasion of the yellow-red government. He thanked Conte Draghi himself, acknowledging the efforts of the previous executive but addressing a first thought precisely to national responsibility: “We are all called upon to fight the pandemic by all means, safeguarding lives. We are in the trenches, we must all fight together ”, he said addressing the assembly at the opening of the session.
"The Government will carry out the reforms but will also face the emergency", continued the prime minister, quoting Cavour, the only quotation from the whole speech together with that, further on, by Pope Francis on environmental issues. “There has been much discussion about the nature of this government – said Draghi -: it is simply the government of the country, it does not need any adjectives to be described. It is a government that will act in full republican spirit“. The Prime Minister reiterated the cornerstones: Atlantic alliance, western values, irreversibility of the euro (clarifying doubts if there were any, after Salvini's exit 24 hours earlier). "By firmly belonging to Europe, we are even more Italian: without Italy there is no Europe, but outside Europe there is less Italy".
In the central part of his speech, Draghi then rattled off all the emergency numbers, both health (on which he ran into some distraction) and economic, insisting in particular on the vaccination plan, on school, on work and on the Next Generation EU. “The school must return to normal hours, but also make up for the hours lost in presence, especially in the South where distance learning has encountered more difficulties. To date, only 61% of students have had full access to distance learning. On the Vaccine, having it in such a short time was a miracle but the challenge now is to distribute it quickly. The central point is to strengthen territorial health care: community houses, hospitals, territorial centres, counseling centres".
"At work - the premier said - we have limited the negative effects of the pandemic, but it was young people, women and the self-employed. It is to them that we must think first, we must strengthen the commitment. Investments in infrastructure must be accelerated, with particular attention to the maintenance of major works and the protection of the territory. For the Next Generation EU, synergistic action is needed, which focuses on co-benefits, that is, on interventions in several sectors in a coordinated manner. Must prevent rather than repairbecause every action has a consequence. The previous government has already done a great deal of work which however needs to be deepened and completed, including dialogue with the European Commission”.
Draghi confirmed the guidelines indicated by the previous executive in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which apparently will not be overturned: innovation, digitization, competitiveness, culture, ecological transition, health, social cohesion. “But the program must be strengthened above all on strategic objectives and reforms”, said Draghi, then listing the strategic objectives: renewable sources, high speed, energy for electric mobility, hydrogen, broadband, 5G, to remember the most important. “Goals must be set for the next decade and even beyond, with the intermediate stage of 2026, which is the last year of the Next Generation EU, but looking to 2030 and also to 2050”.
Clarification also on the governance of the recovery plan, which the predecessor Conte wanted to entrust to a task force of consultants: "The Next Generation EU is governed by the Ministry of Economy, which will act in very close collaboration with the competent ministries. Parliament will be constantly informed”, Draghi kept adding, clearly highlighting a discontinuity in this sense. The premier then listed the main reforms that will have to be done: Taxation, Public Administration and Justice. "Often in the past we have designed the reforms in a partial way, dictated by the need of the moment, without an all-round vision".
“Let's take the tax authorities for example: the tax system is complex, the parts of which are linked to each other, it is not a good idea to change taxes one at a time. It serves a comprehensive reform. Reforms must be entrusted to experts: the taxman is the architrave of budgetary policy. Personal income tax needs to be redesigned, reducing the tax burden and preserving progressivity. We will fight hard against tax evasion”. According to Draghi, another reform not to be postponed is that of the Public Administration: “Following two directives: investments in digitization and continuous updating of the skills of public employees. On the Justice the European Commission urges us to increase the efficiency of the civil system, to more efficient functioning of the courts, to simpler procedural rules”.
Finally, the prime minister, who did not hide his emotion during his speech, closed on international relations: "It will be a pro-European and Atlanticist government, in the wake of a path that has brought well-being, security and international prestige. We will strengthen the axis with France and Germany, establishing a virtuous dialogue with Turkey and Russia, even if we follow with concern what is happening in that and other countries where citizens' rights are denied. This year Italy will have the presidency of the G-20 for the first time: the three watchwords of the group will be People, Planet, Prosperity”.
°°°°°°Update at h. 22 of 18 February: the Chamber also gives its confidence to the Draghi government with 535 Yes, 56 No (including 16 of the Five Stars) and 5 abstentions. Now the Government is in the fullness of its powers.
Here link to read the full speech.
