Italians hope for a new film with a nice happy ending
Brussels gives Rome top marks for the reconstruction plan. The first 25 billion euros are now flowing in, and in the end it will be almost 200 billion.
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–Finally without a mask: Ursula von der Leyen and Mario Draghi in the film studios of Cinecittà in Rome, the stage for the rebuilding celebration.
Photo: Ettore Ferrari (EPA)
The setting is sometimes half the story. Cinecittà, the Roman film studios from distant, once glamorous times, was chosen as the stage for the start of the Italian reconstruction – and that naturally had its own metaphorical symbolism. The Italians hope thanks to the many billions from Brusselsthat will soon pour over the country in tranches from the large pot of the Next Generation EU development fund, to a certain extent on a new film, without fiction and with a nice happy ending.
More money than for everyone else – but also more demands for reform
No country in Europe receives more money for the reconstruction after the pandemic – namely almost 200 billion euros in grants and low-interest loans – than Italy, which was hit early and particularly hard. The European Union does not expect more reforms from any country – all overdue, for decades: justice, taxes, competition, bureaucracy. And so Ursula von der Leyen’s Roman stage on her journey through Europe’s capitals was considered the most important. The EU Commission also gave the plan top marks for Italy: ten A and one B for the estimated costs – but every country has a B.
–The change of government seemed like a guarantee for efficiency: Giuseppe Conte (left) hands over the bell of the Council of Ministers to the new Prime Minister Mario Draghi on February 13, 2021.
Photo: Andrew Medichini (AFP)
Italy is to receive an advance of 25 billion euros in July so that it can get started right away. Rome wants to spend a billion on the integration of boys into the world of work, another billion on incentives for women willing to work, another billion for daycare centers and all-day schools. The rest goes into the six major “Missions” and 419 “Milestones” and “Targets” in the National Recovery and Resilience Planas the fund is called in Italian. 22 percent of the total funds are for digitization, tourism and culture, 31 percent for ecological change, 14 percent for infrastructures, 14.5 percent for education and research, 10 percent for social inclusion and cohesion, about 8.5 percent for consolidation of health care.
“This is the greatest opportunity for our country in two decades.”
By the way, 300 million euros have been budgeted for the modernization of Cinecittà so that it can keep up with international competition. That is one of the reasons why it was chosen as a stage. The newspaper “La Stampa” calls the entire reconstruction plan the “greatest opportunity for our country in two decades”. It would probably be more accurate: for seven decades.
What if Prime Minister Draghi became president soon?
Last February, no one would have bet that the Italians would finish formulating their recovery plan in time. Then Mario Draghi became premier, and his calling alone was seen in Brussels as a guarantee of efficiency. Draghi is considered obsessive on time: the previous government’s paper was ready by April 30th despite a general overhaul and for the time being appeased the many skeptics from the north, who are constantly warning of possible mismanagement and corruption.
The only question is, what if Draghi were to become the new Italian President at the beginning of next year, as many would like, successor to Sergio Mattarella. As prime minister, Draghi has the fate of post-pandemic reconstruction in hand, as president he would be out of office as operational site manager.
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