Two words from the premier were enough Mario Draghi, pronounced on the occasion of the holiday greetings to the reporters of Palazzo Chigi, to ignite the bets on the future of the controversial basic income. But what did Draghi really say? Here: “It is too early to say whether (the Citizenship Income) will come redesigned, reformed, how the audience will change of the beneficiaries. But what I mean is that I fully agree with the basic concept of Citizenship Income“. But of the two sentences of the premier, which one matters more? The first with the hypothesis of the revision of the Citizenship Income or the second with the defense of the cardinal principle of the Income itself? Hard to say, but perhaps one thing does not contradict the other.
In other words it seems to understand that Draghi will not endorse the abolition or cancellation of the measure symbol of the Five Stars, unless next year there is a repeal referendum for which the signatures are still to be collected. However, the premier does not exclude a priori that a reform of the Citizenship Income is in things. After all, just ask yourself the following question: how many new jobs has the Citizenship Income created so far? Nobody. Blame the employment services that have not been able to bring together supply and demand for work? Certainly, but numbers are numbers and they are merciless. It is no coincidence that the former Grillino Welfare Minister, Luigi Di Maio, sensing the headwind that is mounting on the basic income, has already opened up the possibility of its revision.
However, let us not forget an essential point: that the current Citizenship Income - and perhaps this is where its intrinsic weakness lies - is two things together, namely defense against poverty and support for those without work. The fight against income poverty, which could already make use of the Rei established by the Renzi and Gentiloni governments, worked discreetly, even if obviously it could not lead to it has not led to the abolition of poverty as demagogically - on the balcony of Palazzo Chigi - the Grillini ministers claimed when in 2018 the provision was approved by the Conte 1 government. And this part, of support for the poorest families, is probably the one that will be saved and possibly strengthened, widening the audience of recipients but driving out freeloaders and tax evaders.
A completely different matter on the other hand job creation that the Citizenship Income has not been able to guarantee and that requires a very different approach that calls into question the reform of social safety nets and the activation of active labor policies that must be untied from the Citizenship Income. And which above all requires the awareness that jobs are not created by decree but through investments, public and private, which must animate the growth which these days is reaching record levels of an economic miracle and which therefore offers the opportunity to rethinking the labor market and the policies inherent to it in the light of the great technological transformations underway.
