Government, Italy will. So much for the Cassandras of the left

“Attention Europe, Italy is spending again”, was the headline on the website Politico.eu, one of the most popular in the Brussels area. A clear signal to investors to fuel distrust towards us after the request to exceed 14 billion contained in Nadef. Not only that: «The third largest economy in the Union could cause a snowball effect if the accounts were derailed and the Pnrr remained unfinished. In this case, as in the past, the Quirinale’s seat belts would be activated”, wrote yesterday a newspaper from the Stampubblica group, which for weeks did nothing but increase the level of alarm about the Italian situation, preparing the ground for another government. technical, and then accuse the majority of being in the grip of conspiracy syndrome. But in fact, Italy is the third European power and, as they say, it is too big to fail, and if Italy needs the EU, the EU cannot do without of Italy. Therefore, Cassandres, crows and crows will have to accept that a compromise will be reached (it was even granted to Conte…), and that in the end Brussels will give the green light to the maneuver.

With von der Leyen seeking reconfirmation at the top of the European Commission, it is indeed time for the Meloni government to increase its stakes both on the issue of migrants and on the budget law, perhaps avoiding delaying the ratification of the MEE for any longer, given that it will never we will use it. We all know that financial margins will remain narrow for 2025 as well, but there will be time to talk about that after the European elections, when the center-right will certainly play the card of joining the next Commission. The follies of the absence of the euro were rightly put aside, we are necessarily convinced pro-Europeans because our future is there, but that does not mean being uncritical pro-Europeans because if we have our serious flaws, starting with the imposing public debt, Europe continues to be a hybrid institution, neither bird nor bird, without parliament, seat of popular sovereignty, divided on important issues – from common defense to immigration – and incapable of making a quality leap from intergovernmental logics to federative logics of “accession ” , and in this sense the joint issuance of debt cannot be limited to the consequences of the pandemic. The new fiscal rules will certainly have to guarantee sustainable public finances, but also flexibility to manage crises, aligning the Central Bank’s monetary policy and national fiscal policies, because the state of the art has now become unsustainable: while the ECB senselessly increases the anti-inflationary key, States are forced to move, due to the combined circumstances of the crises, with expensive redistributive maneuvers, and without true coordination, the specter of recession will be accompanied by that of social conflicts.

In short: the zeitgeist that led to Europe’s “Hamilton moment” and the Next Generation EU will have to become the Union’s new governance culture, above all to support growth, the only glue that can bring the EU closer to its citizens. Italy is always under attack, but where would Europe go without us? For God’s sake, the advice of Giuliano Ferrara, Galli della Loggia and Cottarelli must be heeded, but they are part of an apocalyptic narrative that conflicts with the true foundations of our country. Public debt is a rock we’ve had under our feet for decades, but if we extend the reference data to private wealth, things really change, because when it comes to saving we’re better off than everyone else, even the Germans. . Saving deserves a separate discussion, because it is not just the result of fear for the present and prediction of the future: it is a decisive factor in economic and social progress. Italians continue to save but keep their money under the mattress: there are almost 1,800 billion stuck in current accounts, which yield nothing and do not go into the economy. If it were channeled into productive investments, the Italian company would solve many of its problems. Furthermore, 75% of Italians would be inclined, with adequate guarantees and incentives, to invest their savings in the country’s growth. For the Italian saver, Einaudi’s definition always applies: he has the ears of an elephant, the heart of a rabbit and the legs of a gazelle. That is, he understands everything, but he is scared and ready to run away.

For recovery, it is therefore necessary to protect savings and channel them into productive investments. But as long as there is no uniform fiscal pressure in the EU, individual states will compete to attract savings and investments, and it is a situation that penalizes us, because in Italy fiscal pressure is four percentage points higher than the European average on labor and six on capital. invested. In conclusion: we are the third largest community power and we have enormous private savings, not to mention the very high percentage of Italians who own one or more houses: we can at least say that our fundamentals are better than those who describe them. , here and in other places, abroad, does he continually defeat us? Reading some comments, it seems that the Italian public debt is the fault of Meloni and Salvini, and not perhaps – the evil of the Conte-Pd government that left the heavy superbonus debts. The important thing for the government is to advance cautiously in Europe, choosing the right alliances, and if the prime minister is forging an axis with today’s France, Salvini is right to maintain good relations with Marine Le Pen, who could be the next Macron the next French President. Adelante con jucio, therefore, without paying much attention to the interested Cassandras on the left.

Source: IL Tempo

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