There is one commitment – obviously among many others – on which Mario Draghi's government will be called to do things other than those seen so far: the Green Deal. That Beppe Grillo in his meeting with the President in charge insisted on a new governance of the green transition is saying something. As if he hadn't noticed that in the last three years the Ministries of the Environment and Economic Development have been occupied by Cinquestelle exponents who are very welcome to him. The challenge for one regeneration of the Italian economy in a sustainable key it is certainly strategic, but now we have to deal with the starting points.
In the context of the Next Generation EU, Count 2 has said and explained for months that he believes the choices for the new economy are essential to relaunch the country. Parliament has measured itself with various measures, even if the benefits have not always had a profound effect, leaving local industries and institutions perplexed. We play a complex game that sees more players on the pitch here. From 2018 to today, however, there has been an irreplaceable starting player: the Minister of the Environment, Sergio Costa. His permanence in both the yellow-green and yellow-red governments was intended to mark an at least ideal continuity in the management of delicate points of the new economy.
Considered by all an expert, Costa has fielded many initiatives for the environment and the mitigation of damage accumulated over decades. He advocated a gradual transition to forms of circular economy. He helped sustainable mobility with bikes and scooters, dialogued with the Associations, fought the indiscriminate use of plastic and promoted various green contexts. At the same time it has not closed the waste dumps, has often quarreled with the Regions, he was a staunch opponent of the construction of new infrastructure and recycling models. Sometimes he had to change his mind when faced with essential projects, such as that of the Tap gas pipeline on the Apulian coast. «A useless work» he had said, in the wake of the grilline protests, without then (fortunately) other subsequent utterances when the infrastructure finally came into operation. Now there are those who regret that his name is not included in the toto ministers.
Mario Draghi, therefore, he will have to put his hand back to a program conditioned for a long time by preconceived positions contrary to an effective integration of production, consumption and recycling cycles. The true part of any green economy strategy. After all, the European Union itself expects the Italian recovery plan to contain a sustainable and practicable vision of the post-COVID recovery. Whether it focuses on investments useful for growth, with an eye to the most depressed areas, in need of green means, tools and "pedagogy". What sense would it make to bring a plan covered by a lot of money to Brussels in April, however, disregarding the usefulness of waste treatment plants, the search for hydrocarbons on national soil when we have to import them, non-invasive structures and other deceptions? Still the leitmotif of happy degrowth? Neither the energy transition nor the 2 CO2030 reduction targets are under discussion. Rather, the change of direction must be based on a long-lasting vision, which goes far beyond climate neutrality plans.
Last week, Frans Timmermans, European Vice President for the Green Deal said the Commission is preparing to make investments in the green transition easier with a focus on competition rules. Basically, if you want to advance, you need to find the right balance between public and private investments. Without the former, the latter will fall compared to what companies have done in recent years. An involuntary assist, that of Timmermans, in favor of someone like Draghi who knows the mechanisms of finance and who can make Italy a valid forerunner. Leaving aside any other superfluous ecological suggestions.
