The inhabitants of the Palace welcomed him so coldly as to make it clear that the parliamentary navigation of the new government will not be easy, also because there are many things to do and they must be done urgently.
Beyond the purely political question on the reform of the electoral law and on the timing of the constitutional reforms which hides the hopes of some and the fears of others about when it will be possible to return to the vote, what is not clearly focused on in the programmatic speech is the profound meaning of the economic policy proposals that Renzi has put forward. Stripping away the speech from the many rhetorical aspects (perhaps too many), it seems to understand that the project of the new Government is first of all to restore liquidity to companies through the full payment of the debts of the PA towards companies and the creation of a guarantee fund for credit to small and medium-sized enterprises. In this field there are already two concrete projects of the Cassa DDPP and Luigi Abete which allow, without widening the deficit and the debt of the State, could make a huge mass of financial resources available to companies. And this is certainly a fundamental problem that needs to be tackled urgently.
The second point is that of a double-digit reduction in the tax wedge already in the first half of 2014. Renzi was vague about this, not indicating where he thinks he will get the resources from to carry out a maneuver that would cost no less than 10 billion. . In fact, the new prime minister did not mention the spending review, nor did he speak of the sale of public assets or the recovery of the many public companies that lose money. If we then consider that Renzi has promised a major school building plan and even more the launch of a reform of the labor market which is based on generalized support for the unemployed (compared to a more stringent system of restarting the work) then it really is not clear where so many resources can come from in such a short time. Perhaps priorities should be carefully calibrated in these fields.
Little space was dedicated to the issue of business competitiveness, apart from a mention, certainly not convincing, of a sector policy, which is not the right recipe at a time when it is the general competitiveness of the system that represents a formidable obstacle to growth of the entire economy.
On the other hand, the position on Europe and the Euro was clear. We must not leave Europe and the Euro but, as Renzi said, a series of both economic and institutional reforms must be implemented immediately in order to have the credibility of being able to play the card to change a little during the semester of our presidency European economic policy, adding concrete actions on growth to rigor.
Two other points have been extensively covered by Renzi, namely the reform of the Justice and that of the PA. These are reforms that have not only a social and political value but also a strong economic value precisely because they are two formidable obstacles for investments by both Italian and international entrepreneurs. No details were stated on the PA except for the insertion of a new and very important concept, namely that PA managers must be able to be evaluated on the basis of "results".
Finally, the emphasis placed on "credibility" and on the need to regain the "trust" of citizens and international chancelleries who do not understand Italian politics, our delays, our Byzantinisms is particularly important. And to do this, institutional reforms need to be launched, crossing them with measures capable of supporting the economic situation. The road is rough. It is positive, however, that Renzi seems perfectly aware of this. And this is certainly a good starting point. But the finish line is far away.
