Meloni’s three new ends
The commitments of the Meloni government for 2023 will concern work, the economy and international politics. Federico Guiglia's notebook
To understand where the government is headed, from the longest end-of-year press conference in memory (“it looks like Telethon, good evening in a bit”, joked the prime minister herself, Giorgia Meloni), we need to cut out the commitments announced for the future . Which concern three areas: work, the economy and international politics. To which the Prime Minister added presidentialism ("we start with the reform"), while the insidious return of Covid to Europe reappears from China. Return that the executive intends to face with checks and preventions (swabs and masks), with advice to the elderly and frail to get vaccinated, but not with obligations, such as the re-proposition of green certification.
But it is on growth that Giorgia Meloni insisted on the wave of the "political manoeuvre" – as she called it – approved by Parliament.
The government therefore aims to cut the tax wedge by 5 points "as a legislative objective" and to support the family and the birth rate from a fiscal point of view. The economic intent is to promote a taxation "that encourages those who get involved and create wealth: the more you hire, the less you pay".
Realistic ambition or dream book? For now, the Prime Minister underlines that she has achieved the 55 objectives set by the Pnrr (“in relay with the previous government”, she clarified in due recognition to Mario Draghi) in order to be able to ask the EU for the other 19 billion due.
But here comes the beauty. Because the executive will be put to the test precisely on the implementation of the Plan in agreement with all the institutions and subjects involved and according to certain rules and deadlines. Which require a great collaboration of national responsibility without spite between the majority and the opposition and a linear strategy on the part of Palazzo Chigi. Which, to start outlining it, meanwhile wanted to concentrate the competences of the Pnrr and the European cohesion funds under a single ministry.
If cutting the cost of labor is considered the concrete priority for the next few years, energy independence is the dream Giorgia Meloni is betting on for the Italy to come. But for now, the only thing looming are high bills and gas supplies from abroad: the challenge will be how to transform this national weakness into an opportunity for growth, for Italy to become the European reference point in the Mediterranean.
(Published on L'Arena di Verona and Bresciaoggi)
www.federicoguiglia.com
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/meloni-tre-nuovi-fini/ on Mon, 02 Jan 2023 06:23:20 +0000.