Now that is incredible: a Minister of Health, or of Health as they are now called, who snubs the funds that the Mes immediately makes available to the health system at practically negligible rates. By now it is understood that the month it's not just a European anti-Covid fund, but has become a veritable litmus test to ascertain who are the politicians who put citizens' interests first (and above all those of the sick) or who are the ones who instead put their electoral advantage and their ideological paranoia first. And the Minister of Health at altitude Leu, Roberto Speranza (Bob Hope, for friends) does not escape the test of truth: he climbs the mirrors, but does not pronounce himself in favour of the 37 billion that Europe – which this time there is, with all due respect to the sovereignists – is ready to give Italy immediately to strengthen its health system. Unbelievable, but true.
It is already out of this world that they are refusing the funds of the Month the Five Stars, but we know how bad ideology, populism and amateurism do. And it is completely absurd that, in order not to disturb Grilline consciences, Italy should have to put up with it a Premier who postpones, postpones and postpones without the courage to say clearly to Merkel and to Macron and, before that, to the Italians, that Mes funds are boon for our health system and that therefore we stop being squeamish and take them on the run. Conte wanted to be the people's advocate, but he will go down in history as the advocate of populism. How else to define his not possumus in front of the Mes? An escape from one's responsibilities that also applies to the Northern League Governors of the Northern Regions: how will they ask the Treasury for more money for health care if they turn their backs on the Mes? Is loyalty to Matteo Salvini or to the citizens who ask for better healthcare more important?
But what about the Minister of Health, that the Minister of Economy, Roberto Gualtieri, and the secretary of the Democratic Party, Nicola Zingaretti, are pressing every other day also because he takes sides in favor of the Mes? “It is time – argued Minister Gualtieri – that some governors also made themselves heard and, why not?, also the Minister of Health”. But Speranza pretends not to hear. Never before had a Minister of Health, usually looking for funds, been indifferent to the rich dish that Europe offers us. The other day the young minister of Leu believed he had found the square when he argued that our health system needs large investments but that Parliament must pronounce on the Mes. One way to throw the ball into the stands but – let's face it clearly – without saving face from hypocrisy. It is as obvious as it is banal that Parliament has the last word on the Mes, but the crucial point is another: when it comes to the vote in Parliament, How will Speranza and her party mates line up? With the Democratic Party and Italia Viva, who do not even remotely think of giving up the 37 billion of the Mes for health care, or, on the contrary, with the Five Stars, who, lost in the mists of ideology and incompetence, refuse them? Who knows how Speranza will explain her ambiguity and her uncertainties about the Mes to her fellow citizens of Basilicata.
But what the Minister of Health was made of was also seen during the lockdown. At the onset of the Coronavirus, he hid behind the wise advice of the technical committee of the ministry and the Istituto Superiore della Sanità, but as soon as the drama broke out, Hope is gone. Why weren't red areas created in Val Seriana, in the Bergamo area and in the Brescia area like in Codogno? Who was it for? To the Lombardy Region or to the central government? The judiciary is still investigating, but, beyond the formal powers, why Speranza, in the face of the tragedies of Alzano Lombardo and Nembro, has never raised her voice and has never publicly urged the Lombardy Region to move? There's no pun intended here: defaults and evasion of responsibility are very clear and are carved in stone. As on the Mes.
PS – To tell the truth, Minister Speranza seems to have convinced himself, albeit belatedly, of the importance of using Mes funds to strengthen the Italian health system: this is what can be deduced from an interview given by the minister to Foglio on 11 July . Let's hope that the intentions really follow the facts.
Read also - The Mes, Conte and his unsustainable reluctanceby Giuliano Cazzola
