Counterorder! Draghi in continuity with Count 2: does not reopen the country and prepares the mockery of “selective” aid
Reopen the country. This is one of the objectives that Mario Draghi, during the consultations, would have proposed to the leaders of the parties, at least according to what was reported, among others, by Matteo Salvini at the end of his interview. But the then president in charge obviously didn't have to specify when . If President Draghi's communication strategy is to "talk to the facts", the first fact of his government, in office since last Saturday, is the extension of the closure of the ski resorts until March 5, therefore practically until the end of the season, which threw an entire industry into despair.
A real joke, indeed a cowardice, because the decree of Minister Speranza arrived less than 10 hours after the reopening, for which the operators had diligently prepared themselves in recent weeks by adopting all the safety measures indicated by the Cts and agreed with the regional presidents. Thousands of people mobilized between entrepreneurs and workers, millions of euros of investments for adaptation, all in smoke. Incalculable damage (expenses in addition to lost earnings) that the "refreshments" will only restore to a small extent. An unacceptable injury to those who work and invest in their country.
A decision of a gravity unfortunately not unheard of, being only the latest in a long series of illogical, disproportionate closures, unsupported by arguments and scientific data, too often without even sufficient notice and after the sector managers had invested to put the their activities in compliance with health prescriptions. Closures that were immediately, instead of the last resort, the first option of a powerless government, totally unable even in the second wave to prepare an effective response on the health front. From the tracking, which we have not even heard of since last October, to the full-blown failure of the vaccination campaign in mid-February, passing through the delays in intensive care, the absence of territorial medicine, the disorganization of school and transport.
The goal set at the beginning of January to vaccinate 6 million people, the over 80s and those most at risk, by the end of March, has now vanished, as Il Sole 24 Ore writes. To date, only 20,000 people are vaccinated a day, a negligible number and very far from the 100,000 that would be needed.
As repeatedly denounced by Atlantico Quotidiano , the emergency is one-way only, towards citizens and economic activities, but not for the state bureaucratic machine, unable to identify priorities, mobilize resources and produce results in times suited to an alleged emergency. . The closures therefore serve to cover the flaws and failures of the state system.
In this the Draghi government starts off on the wrong foot and in total continuity with Count 2. And in fact, the confirmation of Roberto Speranza to the Ministry of Health could not be interpreted differently, also explained by the quirinalists as an explicit request for "continuity" del Colle. A confirmation that increases the chances of the consultant Ricciardi and the commissioner Arcuri, the first symbolic figures of total lockdown and the second of inefficiency, to remain in their place. Just as the subdivision of the Regions by colors seems destined to remain, with red zones in limited areas.
Discontinuity should have been the sine qua non condition of a government of national unity, to prevent the opposition, marginalized and demonized at the beginning of the pandemic, from now being called upon to face the disasters of others, and to perpetuate them, without even the shadow of a reflection on an alternative strategy of coexistence with the virus that does not involve the destruction of entire economic sectors (and it seems that now the abandonment of “no longer vital” activities to their destiny is even theorized, but we will return to it). A discontinuity was certainly indispensable in the names, but also in overcoming the emergency juridical architrave, that combined provision of law decrees and Dpcm, set up by Count 2 to limit fundamental freedoms with monochromatic acts of the Prime Minister or the Minister of Health.
Now it is useless, perhaps self-consoling, to be surprised that Speranza makes Hope, or to tell oneself that his line is not shared by those who have given it back. Some teachers explained to us that it is in the logic of a government of national unity that some ministers may not please us. But this is not the point: it is obvious that ministers of the Democratic Party, Leu and 5 Stelle should have been part of the government structure, but nothing obliged them to confirm their Hope and their Health, as well as Franceschini to Culture or Di Maio to Foreign Affairs. Leu could have had the Work with Epifani, to give just one example.
If until today – day of confidence in the Senate – President Draghi has not decided to publicly share his ideas to restart the country, we knew that the list of ministers would represent the first real test. And it wasn't a satisfactory test.
It would be reductive to interpret the confirmation of nine ministers of the previous government – including Speranza alla Salute, a strategic position in times of pandemic – and the decision to keep the ski resorts closed, as provocations to induce the League to react. Nor can it be said that the extension of the closure is attributable only to Speranza, as Palazzo Chigi intended to give full coverage to the minister's ordinance by making it known that he shared the decision.
The reality is that both the composition and the first decisions show that the Draghi government was not created to mark a discontinuity with the previous one, at least not in the management of the health emergency, as the opposition expected and asked for.
In fact, if we analyze the choices of President Draghi (and del Colle), we realize that from a strictly executive point of view, the intent is to lock down all economic and European policy. Three area technicians (from the left, of course) to oversee the matters covered by the Recovery Plan : the two "transitions", ecological (Cingolani) and digital (Colao), to which Brussels binds the use of funds, and infrastructures ( Giovannini). The loyal Franco in Via XX Settembre and Cartabia in Via Arenula, to control the budget and set up the tax and justice reforms, set by the European Commission as conditions for the disbursement of funds. The rest, basically, is left to the parties: get killed as well …
Here, yes, there is discontinuity, because it was desired by Brussels: the Conte government had not produced a satisfactory Recovery Plan and did not provide sufficient guarantees, so to speak, neither on the ability to spend resources well, nor on the planning of the required reforms. In short, it was Draghi rather than the Conte-Gualtieri duo who managed, or at least planned the use of European funds. If we got rid of the latter, the credit goes to Brussels, via Renzi.
From a political point of view, the choice of the six ministers of Lega and Forza Italia fell on the exponents of those parties less indigestible to the left, with proven pro-European faith and "moderation", that is, as Musso already observed in Atlantico Quotidiano , those who they offer more guarantees not to leave the executive in the event that their parties decide to withdraw support from the government.
We recognized some good reasons that led the League to support Draghi and to enter the government (ruining the plans of the opponents; recovering political centrality and entering some important matches such as Mattarella's succession and the electoral law; representing the instances of the productive north in the restart phase of the country), but we also took the liberty of pointing out the risks of this choice. At this point, once the die has been cast on whether , the difference will be how the League will fit. It will have to demonstrate to its constituents and to the productive world that "monitoring from within" is not an end in itself, of being able to influence government action to protect their interests. What we fear is that if it is a question of the search for a pro-European legitimacy, as many have unfortunately theorized, then the support for Draghi and the permanence in the executive can only be unconditional.
In addition to the continuity in the closures, the idea already sketched by Gualtieri, but relaunched by Draghi (and adopted by the Eurogroup), of "selective" aid, only to companies considered "vital", that is, those that were doing well before it broke out, is very insidious the pandemic. But how can a government (on what basis, according to what criteria?) Judge whether an economic activity, although already in crisis before, would still have failed and could not have recovered?
A sort of life-or-death power over businesses and self-employed workers, and potentially over entire sectors, that makes you shiver. The pandemic it could become the pretext for a gigantic economic and social "cleansing" operation to the detriment of micro and small businesses, which for years have been considered an obstacle to our growth in some circles. In short, an extermination of the kulaks .
In the letter of last January 20 from former Minister Gualtieri to Commissioner Gentiloni and to the Vice-President of the Commission Dombrovskis, not only does he speak of "selective" measures, but also of aid in the form "mainly" of "tax credits in order to promote tax compliance ", therefore no more non-repayable" refreshments ". An announced change of course which President Draghi would like to follow up.
In short, some businesses would be allowed to close on the arbitrary assumption that they would not have made it anyway, regardless of Covid , while companies and VAT numbers brought to their knees by the pandemic, or even forced to close by the government, would be offered no indemnities, although minimal as today, but tax credits. And we can't help but think of that scene from "White, red and green" in which the naive grandson turns to his grandmother confused: "Grandma, they gave me a voucher, what do you want?"
And Sora Lella: "Vor dì that you piji it …" .
But in our case there is really nothing to laugh about.
The post Counterorder! Draghi in continuity with Conte 2: does not reopen the country and prepares the mockery of "selective" aid appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/contrordine-draghi-in-continuita-con-il-conte-2-non-riapre-il-paese-e-prepara-la-beffa-degli-aiuti-selettivi/ on Wed, 17 Feb 2021 05:04:21 +0000.