End-of-year question and answer, remotely, between Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the leader of Italia Viva Matteo Renzi. The question has been on the table for a few days now, but in the traditional year-end press conference, the Prime Minister still answered the question pressing of the government ally, who shortly before had pressed him by speaking in the Senate on the vote of confidence in the Budget Law. This time Conte, while not answering on the merits (that was not the place), did not shy away from the confrontation and announced fast times for the verification and approval of a shared Recovery Plan: "We cannot afford to float – said Conte -, I will convene a CDM already in the first days of January and then there will be a discussion with the social partners and Parliament: we will reasonably have time to deliver the final project within the established deadline, that is, in mid-February ".
“It's a historic occasion – Renzi had said shortly before -. We asked for clarity on where money will go that will never come back. That of Recovery Plan is an opportunity that has never been there before: now or never. We have been told that we are irresponsible and that we undermine the stability of the executive, but this is not stability, it is stagnation. A legislature is like a bicycle, it finds balance if it moves”. Precisely on the holding of the legislature, Conte responded indirectly by reiterating that “the prospect is the end of the legislature. On the Recovery Plan, after the technical draft and the first meetings, it's time for the political synthesis that must be found quickly. The occasion is historic and we are acting in an emergency context, moreover in full harmony with the political direction expressed by the Commission led by Ursula Von Der Leyen. I accept the confrontation but not the ultimatums”.
When asked about his willingness to ask Parliament for confidence in a text of the revised Recovery Plan, Conte replied that "we need to act in a transparent way, the parliamentary passage is essential and it must be clear and frank. I don't challenge anyone, everyone will take their own responsibilities ". The prime minister also intervened on the vaccine plan, which is causing perplexity and controversy in these hours, on timing and priorities, and on the question of mandatory nature ("it is excluded"): "The plan was voted by Parliament on December 2 and provides as it is known that it is distributed first to the categories considered priority: 1,8 million healthcare and RSA personnel and then the 4,4 million over 80s. We will see the first significant results at the end of phase 1, that is, in late spring, not before April, when 10-15 million Italians will have been vaccinated ".
