Did you know that Draghi’s PNRR is appreciated in Germany?

After the launch of the PNRR in Italy, positive opinions on Draghi's Recovery Plan arrived not so much from progressive newspapers as from conservative newspapers, usually critics with "the Italian badges"

If the Economist invites us to keep Europe's excessive expectations of Mario Draghi at bay, the German press continues to offer positive evaluations, which also resist the strategies of greater indebtedness to overcome the economic crisis and the presentation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Indeed, it is precisely after the definition of the PNRR that more convinced judgments have arrived , and not so much from the progressive newspapers, which have always been more accommodating towards the Italian management of public money, as from those of a conservative orientation, traditionally very critical of "the Italian badges "And at the time also dissenting with respect to the expansive monetary policies of Draghi himself at the ECB.

For the moment, however, there is another climate. How long it will last is not known. But if the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also ventures a positive analysis of the latest moves by the Italian government, then this change in climate must be taken seriously.

"Draghi awakens the taste for the future", is in fact the title with which the correspondent from Rome of the most authoritative German newspaper, Matthias Rüb, tells the presentation of the recovery plan to overcome the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic, based largely on European funds of the Next Generation EU.

The article is based on a continuous comparison between the action of the Draghi government and that of its predecessor. The current large majority voted for the Italian plan, on which the Conte government had fallen, "lost in the attempts to balance the particular interests" of the parties that supported it and "unable for months to define a convincing project for the use of European aid ”, writes the Faz . While the previous government had only received indications of "vague reforms", the current one succeeded in the task of launching the program "in a few weeks".

In the 40 pages describing the reform policies, Rüb notes smugly, "almost 50 times" are cited the magic words "increase in competitiveness" and "competitive capacity", the thorns in the side of the Italian economy for decades, while in the drafts of Conte such concepts were named "just 5 times". And also the fact that Draghi found an Italian name (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) for what was called the English Recovery Fund for months, is seen by the Frankfurt newspaper as "the legitimacy of a national leadership capacity" : a total of 330 pages of law packages with which to relaunch the country.

Rüb reports rumors that the former governor of the European Central Bank has thrown the weight of his prestige on the Brussels table, disarming the doubts and uncertainties of the European officials who sit around the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen, attributing them to the communication strategy of Palazzo Chigi. He quotes in Italian the expression "Enough like this", which would have come out of Draghi's mouth, as well as the indiscretion that the prime minister would have closed any discussion personally guaranteeing the goodness of the plan (even the Handelsblatt had reported it), circumstance instead later denied by Draghi himself. And the article dwells on another narrative that finds success in Italy these days, according to which the country is regaining strength and role in Europe not so much because one of the big four (with Germany, France and Spain) that after the Brexit has in fact taken on more responsibility than for the weakness of the other leaders. With Merkel towards the exit door, Macron trapped in the political-electoral competition with Marine Le Pen and the Spanish Sanchez weak on his own, in Italy it is thought that "the creaking Rome-Paris axis" could return to work and perhaps impose its own line based on the "mutual trust between Draghi and Macron".

But the Faz immediately returns to highlight what in its opinion are the signs of Draghi's internal success. In front of the parliamentarians, the prime minister "found the right tone between the exhortation to the long-awaited reforms and that of the liberation of the latent potential of the country". More than numbers and money, Draghi spoke of Italians: "The Plan is more than an accumulation of ambitious projects, figures and objectives, it is a signal for young people, women and future generations, a roadmap for a epochal intervention ". Following the words used in parliament, the Faz cites the call to "not waste a historic opportunity", to "free oneself from self-inflicted paralysis" and "return to the path of growth after two decades of stagnation". A passage of the speech is particularly highlighted, the one in which Draghi said he was sure that "honesty, intelligence and taste of the future will win over corruption, stupidity and special interests": "a balm for the soul of the country", comments the Faz .

In conclusion, again the comparison with the previous government. Draghi was able "with a shrewd hand" to keep his "large and composite majority" disciplined on the inside and to reaffirm "his ability to drive decisively" on the outside, as demonstrated by the clash with Astra Zeneca on the affair of export of vaccines.

On the contrary, "the previous months of the Conte government and his left-wing coalition had been characterized by chaos, quarrels and a communication strategy for the individual ministers as an end in itself". With Draghi, Frankfurter concludes, “adults now have a say in the matter, who speak when they have something to say”.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/lo-sapete-che-in-germania-si-apprezza-il-pnrr-di-draghi/ on Thu, 29 Apr 2021 09:59:30 +0000.