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Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has warned that the “fate of the country” depends on the success of the € 248 billion investment and reform package to relaunch the pandemic-ravaged economy.
Speaking to lawmakers on Monday, Draghi, who was appointed to head the national unity government in February, explained the big bets that come with plans to tackle some of the eurozone’s third-largest structural problems.
“The set of programs I present to you today also includes the fate of the country and above all,” Draghi said. “Measuring its role in the international community – its credibility and reputation as a founder of the European Union and a major player in the Western world.”
Italy, whatever severely injured by pandemics in health and the economy, the EU is to receive one of the largest parts of its € 750 billion recovery and resilience plan to help Member States recover from the pandemic last year. Spain is expected to be another important recipient.
Draghi said the package will include 191.5 billion euros from EU funds and 30.6 billion euros from Italy’s national budget to invest in transport infrastructure, digitalisation and the environment, and to spend on structural reforms to modernize the Italian bureaucracy. An additional 26 billion euros have also been earmarked, mainly to improve transport links between the south and the north, bringing the total package to 248 billion euros.
Expenditures, he said, would focus on Italy’s three main goals: to bridge the gap between the country’s rich industrialized north and the poorest south; improving gender equality; and reducing intergenerational inequality.
The Draghi government predicts that boosting investment and reform in the economy will add 3.2 percentage points to gross domestic product between 2024 and 2026.
In total, 40 per cent will go to green projects, Draghi said, “they have been particularly important for Italy as climate risks are more prevalent than other countries”, and 27 per cent is dedicated to the digitalisation of the Italian economy.
In addition, 82 billion euros would be allocated to the regions of southern Italy. Draghi said 26 billion euros will be used to build a high-speed railway line between the southern town of Salerno and Reggio Calabria, as well as to renovate the railway line between Milan and Venice in the north.
Other investments will be 32 billion euros in education, including the promotion of research and vocational training and the expansion of kindergartens and nursery schools.
The Prime Minister said 22 billion euros will be spent on training and improving the integration of workers and 18.5 billion euros on public health, strengthening primary care and digitizing the health sector.
“The Covid-19 pandemic reaffirmed the universal value of health, its nature as a key public good, and the macroeconomic importance of public health services,” Draghi said.
Draghi, who has an absolute parliamentary majority, with the support of almost all Italian political parties, also warned the country’s parliamentarians that there is a need for unity in order for the reforms to be successful.
“Renovation work will fail. . . if there are no disinterested men willing to tire and sacrifice for the good, ”said Alcide De Gasperi, referring to the prime minister of the post-war Italian republic.
“I’m sure we’ll get this plan implemented,” he said. “I am confident that honesty, intelligence and care for the future will prevail over corruption, stupidity and interests.”
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