A document of 120 pages organized in 6 macro-sectors with related objectives: is the Colao floor which the president of the task force in charge of suggesting to the Government how to relaunch the Italian economy in the three-year period 2020-2022 after the Coranavirus emergency delivered in the last few hours to the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, in view of the controversial States General which should be held over the weekend but which are causing tensions between the Premier and the Democratic Party.
Even more than the individual proposals, the crucial point is to understand what will be the political use of the Colao Plan: that is, if the Government wants to make it at least in part its own and translate it into reforms and consequent measures or if - as it seems to understand from the coldness with which the premier welcomed it - it will consider it only a theoretical contribution that leaves the time it finds. Waiting to understand what the real fate of the Colao Plan will be, let's see for now what its fundamental points are.
DEFERMENT OF FEES
with the postponement of the June-July income tax payment, the 2019 tax balance and the 2020 advance payment.
AMENDMENTS AND AMENDMENTS FOR CASH AND BLACK WORK
In order to bring to light income that has not been declared or that has fled abroad and to root out undeclared work, the Colao Plan does not even give up imagining amnesties and amnesties to regularize the many anomalies that distinguish these fields.
EXTENSION OF TERM CONTRACTS
Extend fixed-term employment contracts until the end of the year (even as an exception to the rules which in some cases prohibit their renewals when, for example, the maximum number has been reached) to give employment space and protect the most weak workers.
WORKER TRAINING
There are also incentives for companies to retrain the unemployed. To this end, incentives for companies (eg tax relief on training costs, reduction of the wedge), incentives for workers and quality training programs should be created.
PUBLIC WORKS
The plan proposes to simplify the application of the procurement code, by applying the European directives to infrastructures of "strategic interest". At the same time, the legislation should be revised in a new code, based on the same directives.
For strategic public works, the task force proposes to create an execution garrison that eliminates obstacles to their realization also through "national construction laws or protocols that cannot be enforced by local bodies". Planning should take place through supervision at the Prime Minister's office.
SCHOOL
For the school world, various measures are suggested:
- "A voluntary campaign that supports public structures (obviously without replacing them) in supporting training";
- the crowdfunding campaign "Adopt a class" to equip the classrooms with infrastructure and digital devices;
- the national program "Learn from the best", with which large high-tech companies, research institutions and universities hold refresher courses on innovative topics for high school and middle school teachers on 20 Saturdays a year;
- the "Talents Competition", with companies and donors organizing a series of Hackathon-type competitions for young scholars on topics of great technological, social and cultural importance.
The plan also speaks of giving a "push to the formation of new skills", with an orientation of young people that reconciles their expectations "with the transformations of the socio-economic system", a "professionalized tertiary education channel" and a digital platform of " education to employment”, with courses created by companies to develop the skills they need.
STOP THE BUREAUCRACY
Simplification and speeding up of bureaucracy with extensive use of self-certification, the link between public managers' responsibilities and management results and the review of the so-called tax damage.
SMART WORKING
After the experimentation during the lockdown, the time has come to regulate smart working as an option for businesses and workers.
ACCELERATE 5G AND BROADBAND
A strong appeal to politicians to develop and modernize our telecommunications networks could not fail to come from the former head of Vodafone. One of the main recommendations is precisely the creation of "a fiber network" covering all of Italy, to be implemented together with a boost to 5G networks, also by raising the limits for emissions which today in Italy are three times lower than those middle European. It is also necessary to "negotiate a balanced extension of concessions conditioned by an explicit and binding investment plan (for example in the motorway, gas, geothermal and hydroelectric sectors), consistent with the macro directives of the European Green Deal".
CRIMINAL SHIELD FOR BUSINESSES ON COVID CONTAGIONS
The Colao Plan also proposes to remove the main reason for uncertainty for non-healthcare companies in the face of the Coronavirus, forcing them to apply rigorous protocols but relieving them of any criminal liability in the event of employee contagion.
PAYMENT PAYMENTS
The task force also proposes to introduce "a voluntary but heavily government-sponsored code of conduct" for quick payment of suppliers, for example in 30 days, to fuel the circulation of liquidity.
STARTUPS AND SMEs
In order to "strengthen support measures for innovative start-ups and SMEs", the plan suggests increasing "the tax breaks for investment by citizens, companies and specialist funds".
HIGH SPEED
The document also speaks of "improving the accessibility of Italian tourism, investing in key infrastructural connections relating to high-potential tourist areas/poles which are currently lacking, enhancing the High Speed backbones, some minor tourist airports and intermodal logistics for the cities of art". The interventions include the development of the high-speed railway on the Adriatic coast (Bologna-Taranto), and the completion of the high-speed railway on the Tyrrhenian coast, so that it reaches Sicily”.
NURSERIES
Building new nursery schools to reach "3% of children in 60 years, eliminating the territorial differences between the Centre, the North and the South". Today the availability of places in nursery schools does not exceed 25% of the total and is highly unequal across the territory: in the southern regions the available places cover only 10%.
