What is said about Draghi’s PNRR in Germany
The Draghi government and the Italian PNRR seen by the German press. Mennitti's article from Berlin
On the day when Germany and France present their Recovery Fund plans in a joint conference to symbolize their common commitment to recovery, the economic daily Handelsblatt takes care of commenting on the Italian plan, presented yesterday in parliament by Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
And while waiting for some vestal of that ornithological species that in Italy has been called austerity hawks to hear their voice, it should be noted that even the Handelsblatt (like Welt a few days ago) seems willing to open a line credit to the plans of Rome.
That the climate has definitively changed, even beyond the political perimeter, would probably be a risky assessment. But the pandemic was (and in part still is) a bad blow for everyone and in Germany the majority belief resists that only a recovery of the entire continent can allow even the first European economy to start growing again. That it is Mario Draghi who manages this phase of setting expenses and objectives in Italy is a guarantee, despite the criticisms that rained down on him from Berlin and surroundings at the time of his defense of the euro in Frankfurt.
There is undoubtedly a concession of credit that our country would not have with other leaders, even if mitigated by the usual taste for the warnings of German commentators. Draghi assumed responsibility for the measures and guaranteed with his credibility on their effectiveness, now he is obliged to make words follow deeds. The gist is this, condensed in the title of the comment that appears on the inside pages: “Draghi is in duty”.
The first part of the analysis is dedicated to the approach given by the Prime Minister to his parliamentary intervention: having traced the recent Italian economic history as a series of "missed opportunities" seems to Handelsblatt the right way to face the post-pandemic challenge . On the other hand, in twenty years, from 1999 to 2019, the Italian GDP grew by 7.9%, against 30.2% of the German one and even 40% of the Spanish one. Cruel numbers that lead directly to the problem that has been holding back the Italian economy for some time: low productivity. The newspaper underlines how the Italian one has dropped by 6 percentage points. A disaster.
Three points of Draghi's speech are highlighted, which according to the commentator symbolize the country's delays: the poor digitization of the public administration (98.9% of public employees had never worked in the home office before Covid), biblical times justice (a civil trial in the first instance lasts on average more than 500 days), the low female employment in the European comparison (53.8% against the EU average of 67.3).
The Handelsblatt takes stock of the amount of investments that Italy is ready to throw into the recovery plan: the European 191.5 billion (of which 68.9 non-repayable), plus an additional 30 billion from the national fund. And avoiding remembering for the umpteenth time the amount of Italian public debt, he focuses on some of the expenditure items. Over 228 thousand places in new kindergartens to allow women to enter the world of work, over 10 billion euros to digitize the public administration, more than 14 billion to improve training and job search for young people.
"Reassuring and concrete solutions", defines the Handelsblatt , adding that Draghi will be evaluated on the ability to implement them. “The billions from Brussels will represent a great opportunity only if they change the country in the long term”, writes the Düsseldorf daily, “and if they promote reforms that have a profound impact. If they will not only serve to raise GDP for a short period but to break the encrusted structures that have paralyzed the country for decades ”.
Citing the doubts of Brussels and the Commission's attempt to allow extra time for Rome to adjust its plan, the Handelsblatt recalls how it was Draghi himself who set pace in recent days and played the card of his credibility with the Europe: “I guarantee”. Here, concludes the economic daily, Draghi “will be evaluated on this promise”, now “he must make words follow deeds”.
In the judgment probably also counts the observation that not even the German plan was exempt from Brussels criticism. The one presented today with France is a list of expenses that – according to the Commission – does not contain the reformist impetus that should have been the basis of the Recovery fund and that was expected from the country considered first in its class.
The definition of the Berlin plan did not occupy much space in the German press. Little has been discussed about it, often only in the most specialized newspapers. In the end, as always written by the Handelsblatt in recent days, the government claims that 80% of the expenses fall into future-oriented sectors and will be used to digitize infrastructures and in the fight against climate change. But the EU expected more, it judged it to be an unambitious project (for example, no liberalization of overly regulated professions, such as architects or in the crafts sector), which does not correspond to the role of example that Germany should have taken on. of other European countries.
Indeed, those few analysts who have ventured into the subject have observed that much of the money will be used to finance projects that the German government had already sketched out in recent years. Not a great effort of imagination, even if it is true that many of those projects have to do with digitization and environmental sustainability. And to the grievances of Brussels, the German government replied that in an election year like this one could not expect more. It is also for this reason, observed the Handelsblatt , that in the end the battle ended up hidden.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/pnrr-draghi-germania/ on Tue, 27 Apr 2021 10:24:18 +0000.