The collapse of the Government halts reforms: what does the future hold for Italy?
The elections are a certainty by now: in September the country will find itself back at the ballot boxes to vote for the government that best represents it. Yet prior to the electoral contest and the (inevitable) cheap shots of the election campaign, Italians will have something else to occupy their minds.
What will become of the many reforms that should have been launched by Draghi&Co and which instead will be left standing at the starting post? It is impossible to say, given the diverse areas of intervention. From the minimum income to the school system, from pensions to the 200 Euro bonus, from the decree to renew support in various areas to the decree on freeing up markets to competition, everything seems to be left hanging in the balance.
Most of the reforms should have been launched after the upcoming summer recess, but this will probably no longer be feasible following the debacle of the current prime minister. It will take a race against time, starting from October, to put through the new measures so as not to lose EU funding.
What does this mean? It is easily said: Italy runs the risk of jeopardising its participation in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and losing the second and third instalments of European funding that binds member States to obligatory reforms in order to adjust to the 2030 agenda standards. Italy has to accomplish 55 targets by the end of 2022. Among these are all the main reforms that President Draghi brought to the table and many of which now take on a critical urgency, being tied in as they are with the PNRR.
An election contest will put a choice for the future before the country. To outline a better context in which government action will not be a mission impossible. In which the divergent voices and the definition of priorities will consider values that look towards the future, a future that will be more united and supportive, respectful of the environment and the creatures that populate it. And above all, one that builds bridges between differences, rather than using them to build walls.
