The way Draghi's Italy is interpreting the European Green Deal is as realistic as possible. No concessions to rhetoric, no magic wand or preventive agreements with the EU to access Recovery Fund funds. A realism that guided the premier in defining the objectives of the PNRR https://www.governo.it/it/articolo/pnrr/16718 unknown in the days of the previous government. The widely publicized interlocutions that Conte had held with the European Commission have been superseded by a plan that has its feet on the ground, especially as regards the ecological transition. The grillina declamation of a country with a circular economy, entrusted to the future care of 300 (?) Caste-like experts, has been replaced by a consultation between institutions and wise management. The hand of competent people can finally be seen, beyond what Pd Deputy Secretary Giuseppe Provenzano thinks. Center and periphery will have to work together to keep pace towards lofty goals. Staying on the same side, burying any temptation for decision-making autonomy. In practice, they will all have to behave in a radically different way from what we have seen with the pandemic.
Among the many reasons that explain such a unitary conduct – much more effective than the ideas of Conte 2 – is the one recalled by the President of Confindustria Carlo Bonomi at the recent Italy-Spain Forum. When the European Commission tackles sustainability, it needs to be “overcome a certain ideological attitude in the way the issue is tackled. Sustainability must be declined in all aspects, environmental but also economic and social” said Bonomi. The theme of competitiveness must be considered central. These are words that objectively help the work of Draghi and the government https://www.governo.it/it/articolo/il-presidente-draghi-spain/17194. But they also mark another evident discontinuity with the Conte governments that were felt needed. In short, the real test bench for Europe and Italy is not only climate neutrality by 2050, but the intermediate stages that will mark an epochal transition. There are the reforms to be done that Europe puts first. A solid network of alliances and participation needs to be built which will not be without disappointments, oppositions, contrasts, mediations. There is a need to reconcile very often divergent interests and visions. Scenarios that Count 2 has never seriously considered.
“The industrial revolutions have economic and social costs and we need to be clear on these issues” added the President of the industrialists. Changing the way we produce and consume takes many more years than the 6-7 envisaged by the Recovery Fund. In the middle there are habits and lifestyles that cannot be changed at the table or with appeals from boxes and balconies. Italian companies are emerging from the dark months of the pandemic and realism, here too, leads us to believe that the approach to the green transition will not - cannot be - univocal. Too many variables - the size of the company, the turnover, the shares of the market, labor contracts, exports – are in evidence for thinking that a new, sustainable economic system will establish itself through the sum of willpower.
European countries should also have differentiated targets and metrics to measure successes or the status quo. In the energy, environmental and structural fields, the differences between the 27 countries are enormous and not easy to iron out. As far as Italy is concerned, then, in order not to find itself a prisoner of an illusion, the system of the PNRR also requires a great social pact where everyone gives up a piece of power in favor of a less unbalanced system. Prices will be paid, this is clear, but having a leader at the helm of the country who knows where to go is an opportunity to do it as quickly as possible.
