We need to involve them. Perhaps more than Minister Brunetta says he wants to do. Civil servants must have a large space in the green transformation of the country. The ecological transition, central to the Draghi government's programme, will only be accomplished if the state machine is in a position to grasp its importance by participating directly in it. Brunetta is right when he argues that merit must be rewarded in every sector and that the efficiency of the public machine must once again be a value. However, the way to do it must be found soon, perhaps by stimulating the capable to be better and the less equipped to want to excel.
Faced with the challenge of such a radical change as the one that will come from the Recovery in terms of environmental sustainability, civil servants are, in fact, called to a decisive test. The implementation times for the choices that will find a place in the Plan for Brussels are determined upstream, to 2026. Then there will be more. But the vast majority of options presented in Europe will depend on stamps, visas, opinions, resolutions.
Now, if it is true that you have to put your hand to the streamlining of procedures and authorization profiles – both in the center and in the suburbs – it is equally evident that local authorities are largely deprived of professionalism and expertise in energy efficiency, savings and renewable sources. Politics must take note of this, although Brunetta has announced new public competitions for young people. If the country were not to make it due to a lack of competence, it would truly be an unfortunate defeat. And after having intended for the new economy the beauty of 80 billion euros. On the contrary, Nomisma and the Rekeep management group have asked the government to allocate 39,1 billion just for the energy and seismic upgrading of non-residential real estate assets. The advanced energy sectors are implemented (when they are) in the state machine with appalling delays. The complex of rules, regulations, circulars, sentences have the effect of blocking all good eco-sustainable industrial initiatives in the bud. On closer inspection, the same complicated story of the'ex Ilva of Taranto – between municipal ordinances, appeals, sentences of the TAR, of the Council of State – derives from a mix of decisions belonging to public authorities.
The real point is that you cannot face an epochal turning point without it increase preparation of public employees. It takes up to five years to build a wind farm today. Converting a school to clean energy requires two to four years with managers, employees, councilors and mayors unraveling dozens of documents, moreover haunted by the nightmare of signing. A solution to this bureaucratic penalty was found in Milan. The Lombardy Region has signed an agreement with the Energy Services Manager (GSE) which provides, among other things, training courses for employees of local authorities "deputies for the management of public healthcare construction, also by virtue of the COVID emergency". A somewhat special area in this 2021 for promote renewables in public buildings, but which has good results behind it. In past years, training courses on energy efficiency in buildings for municipal professionals and technicians involved 550 public entities in Lombardy and around 2.000 officials and professionals in the sector. It's just a localized example. But Italy is full of study centres, universities and public bodies capable of acting as trainers. What prevents, then, the Ministries concerned, the Regions, the Municipalities from setting up immediately a national training plan a very wide range so that the main chapters of the ecological transition have a prepared, competent and efficient PA "in the field"? Just not to think (the Cinquestelle above all take note) that everything has been resolved with a brand new Ministry or centralized structures in Rome. After the green light from the European Union, the projects will have to be implemented in the territories.
«In terms of infrastructure - Draghi said in Parliament - it is necessary to invest in the technical, legal and economic preparation of public officials to allow administrations to be able to plan, design and accelerate investments with certainty of times, costs and in full compatibility with the guidelines for sustainability and growth ». He saw the prime minister along and he must be acknowledged. For this it is enough to remember it to get busy.
