In this succession of crises, the subsidies that are distributed everywhere are a first form of closeness of society to those who are most affected, especially to those who have often tried to react. The subsidies are used to survive, to restart. This was stated by former ECB president Mario Draghi during his speech at the inauguration of the 2020 Meeting, which began today 18 August in Rimini. Young people – added Draghi – need to give more: the subsidies will end and the lack of professional qualification will remain, which will be able to sacrifice their freedom of choice and their future income. Draghi stressed that education must guide us in restarting and building the future, an essential sector for growth and therefore for all transformations, to be close to young people by investing in their training because participation in the society of the future will require young people to today even greater capacities of discernment and adaptation.
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The price young people will pay
The debt created by the unprecedented pandemic and will have to be repaid mainly by those who are young people today. our duty – added Draghi – to ensure that they have all the tools to do so while living in better societies than ours. For years a form of collective selfishness has induced governments to distract human capacities and other resources in favor of objectives with more certain and immediate political return: this is no longer acceptable today.
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Keep hope high
It is important for Draghi not to lose hope and to clearly choose the future we want to build. Society as a whole cannot accept a world without hope; but he must, gathered all his energies and rediscovered a common feeling, seek the path of reconstruction, he said during his speech at a meeting this year “special”, very different from usual. For obvious reasons, the initiative organized for 40 years by Comunione e Liberazione cannot be the traditional mega-meeting in the pavilions of the Rimini fair. The pandemic is the first topic touched by Draghi. Speaking about the challenge of our present, the former governor recalled how important it is to accept the inevitability of change with realism and, at least until a remedy is found, we must adapt our behavior and our policies. But we must not renounce our principles. Economic policy – he added – is not expected to add uncertainty to that caused by the pandemic and change. Otherwise we will end up being controlled by uncertainty instead of us controlling it. We would lose our way.
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The need to be pragmatic
The key word “pragmatism”. In the current circumstances the necessary pragmatism, Draghi stressed. Precisely because today economic policy is more pragmatic and the leaders who direct it can use greater discretion, we need to be very clear about the objectives we set ourselves. Also because reconstruction will inevitably be accompanied by stocks of debt destined to remain high for a long time. This debt, underwritten by countries, institutions, markets and savers, will be sustainable, that is, it will continue to be underwritten in the future, if used for production purposes – for example investments in human capital, in infrastructures crucial for production, in research, etc. -, if that is good debt. Its sustainability will be less if it is used for unproductive purposes, if it is considered “bad debt”.
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Solidarity as an element of credibility
From the ashes we are reborn, as we can rise again from the crises. Draghi is convinced of this: Europe can emerge strengthened from this crisis. The action of governments rests on a ground made solid by monetary policy. After decades in which European decisions have seen the prevalence of the will of governments, the so-called intergovernmental method, the Commission has returned to the center of the action. This is an important passage in Draghi’s speech that is projected into the future: We hope that the decision-making process will thus become less difficult, reflecting the belief, felt by most, of the need for a strong and stable Europe, in a world which seems to doubt the system of international relations which has given us the longest period of peace in our history. But we have come to this for a dramatic emergency. We must not forget, says the former governor, the circumstances that were at the origin of this step forward for Europe: the solidarity that should have been spontaneous, was the fruit of negotiations. To then warn: in the strong and stable Europe that we all want, responsibility goes hand in hand and legitimacy with solidarity. Therefore this step forward will have to be cemented by the credibility of economic policies at European and national level. Then it will no longer be possible, as some have argued, to say that the changes that have occurred as a result of the pandemic are temporary.
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