Because the first steps of the Meloni government are promising
A first budget of the Meloni government. Focus on economic policy, reforms and foreign policy. The analysis of Professor Benedetto Ippolito, historian of philosophy
The new season of the first Meloni government began on 22 October last year. In almost record time compared to the early general elections of 25 September, the first executive led directly by a political leader from an explicitly right-wing party made its debut in Italy.
The exceptional nature of the situation reverberated in the urgency of the finance law, whose deadlines were by no means simple to respect, but whose completion prevented the provisional exercise. There wasn't even time for the traditional honeymoon, also because, staying with the metaphor, the Meloni-Italy marriage seemed stable and did not need will-o'-the-wisp. Keeping this tight calendar in mind is important to understand that the real organic economic initiatives are destined for the current year, the first real full operational phase of the executive.
Nonetheless, the past months have not been useless but rather have already favored tangible material for a first, provisional, evaluation. In the collective psychological consciousness, the awareness of the fortunate possibility of an executive in the legislature, or in any case in the medium term, to deal with in the coming years dominates.
The initiatives undertaken by the Meloni government have expressed the first sketches of a systematic political vision, which was clearly announced during the electoral campaign, and which now corresponds to a program which, beyond the individual voices, has a clear intelligible basis from the general point of view, although clearly it is still the synthesis of a coalition majority, with different identities present within it.
The sure thing is that we are dealing with a right-wing government, with explicit conservative aims, the only one really in office among Western European nations: therefore, the question that analysts need to ask themselves is the following: what political significance does this fact have? strategically? And better still, what does it mean today to be a nation led by a conservative political class?
THE ECONOMIC POLICY OF THE MELONI GOVERNMENT
The answer can be induced by three initiatives that have already been taken by this executive: the first relating to economic policy, the second to state reform and the third to foreign policy.
As far as the economic aspects are concerned, it is clear that the Meloni government wants to focus on the real economy of the nation, on the enhancement of small businesses and families. It is in this direction that the dispute over the lowering of the cash limit and the tax amnesty should be evaluated. Looking at a society that feels oppressed and oppressed by legislation and a regulatory system that is too stringent and suffocating is undoubtedly a truly looming expectation in the electorate, which therefore determined the victory in September, giving consent to the project .
Starting from the Italians, understood as real people who live and work willingly but in the midst of tremendous difficulties, whose economic activity cannot be created in the laboratory but must be helped to survive and grow, is undoubtedly an intelligent choice, despite the complexities expected in making such an ambitious goal effective.
Almost everything still remains to be done, logically: for example, rebalancing the tax authorities, modifying the rates, reconfiguring the organization of work in a meritocratic sense and so on. Very important from this point of view is the elimination of the basic income to allocate subsidies to involuntary conditions of unemployment, rewarding productivity, commitment and efficiency, against instead an insane parasitic welfare. The Constitution clearly indicates from the first article that work is not an irrelevant accident but a rightful duty of all those who are, by age and condition, in a position to work. Citizenship income is simply immoral, as is unacceptable any initiative that goes in the opposite direction to social solidarity policies that are due to families and citizens in actual difficulty. The State must not maintain citizens, but help them to be themselves, whether they work in the private sector or serve the nation in the public sector.
Particularly relevant is the plan for the elderly, which also found applause from the CEI, which is very important politically, especially as it took place after a cordial meeting between Meloni, his staff and Pope Francis.
Catholic principles are essential for the Italian right, and, especially today, they remain the parameters of truth of our tradition even when there is a certain discord between the purposes of the State and the Church: in this case, then, the rapprochement is mutual interest in coping with the crisis that Italians are experiencing from an existential, both spiritual and material point of view.
THE REFORM OF THE STATE
A second important point is the reform of the state. It concerns both the justice sector and that of the form of government. Guaranteeism, typical of liberal culture, is perfectly consistent with the rigor in the application of the law, typical of conservatism. The controversy over Minister Nordio and wiretapping is instrumental and insubstantial, which can be resolved in the formula: judicial wiretapping yes, abuse of wiretapping and their publication no.
No rule of law can disregard this duty of respect for people in the streamlined, efficient and rigorous exercise of legality. A judge is not a character in the show and he is not a politician, but is a personal expression of the judicial power. Therefore sobriety and seriousness are indispensable ethical criteria, moreover widespread in the majority of magistrates.
On the reform side, the next few months will be crucial. Changing the state in a presidential sense implies changing local administrations in a federal sense: not only is there no contradiction but there is a logical connection between these two prerogatives. The unsolicited advice is to resume, among the individual bills, precisely that of 1983, made by the then MSI, where the direct election of the head of state with unchanged powers was foreseen and rightly so. There are many reasons for the appropriateness of such a choice, compared to others. I will indicate two: in this way the Constitution would not be distorted and the president would be left with the limited but not irrelevant powers he possesses today, in continuity with the tradition of our current legislation.
FOREIGN POLICY
The third area of action is foreign policy. Making our nation a strategic place for the passage of energy supplies from the Union and exporting, protecting its sovereign determination and cultural identity, the Italian spirit in the world is the only real resource that our country holds. Italy has no raw materials, but it has culture, traditions, well-being, lifestyle and creativity that no one can beat and everyone envies. Supporting our Italian identity with pride and strength, even the less culturally visible one, as well as our extraordinary humanistic, scientific and technological genius, is the future, ours and that of the generations to come, as well as being a fair recognition towards the our fathers and grandfathers who made us who we are and who we can be.
All in all, therefore, these first steps by the Meloni government are promising. The risk is the tiredness and laceration of relations between the majority parties that could be generated over time. The hope is in Meloni's enthusiasm and skill and in the concrete possibility that some effects will soon and well become reality, despite the strikes of the petrol stations and other discontents that exist and will exist, and which must be contemplated, to a certain extent, as inevitable .
The strength of the right always rests in the community, in the stability of values, in the existing spiritual and material resources of the people. Our national weakness is not the nation, but it is the architecture of our State and of our public administration, which tends to favor the crystallized presence of unproductive powers that are tremendously resistant to any improvement in the country's efficiency and ready for xenophilia rather than losing the acquired individual prerogatives.
Most Italians, however, do not benefit from these favors and want to do, grow, find fulfillment and optimism. Here lies the key that Giorgia Meloni is holding: hers is the responsibility of keeping the engine running and making our car move quickly towards the future.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/perche-i-primi-passi-del-governo-meloni-sono-promettenti/ on Tue, 24 Jan 2023 10:42:52 +0000.