Italy’s Programme for Government translated
This is the unofficial translation of Italy’s Programme for Government, released on 4 September 2019. For the original version in Italian see here. Credits to DeepL for the free translation.
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The Prime Minister-elect has prepared, on the basis of the guidelines shared by the 5 Star MoVimento, the Democratic Party and the Free and Equal, the following guidelines, which will constitute the general policy of the Government of the Republic for the continuation of the eighteenth legislature.
1) With reference to the budget law for 2020, the priorities are: the neutralization of the increase in VAT, measures to support families and the disabled, the pursuit of policies for the housing emergency, the measures of debureaucratization and administrative simplification, the strengthening of incentives for private investment, as well as the increase in the allocation of resources for school, university, research and welfare. All forecasts will, however, be oriented towards pursuing an expansive economic policy, so as to direct the country towards a solid prospect of growth and sustainable development, without jeopardising the balance of public finances.
2) The formation of the new European Commission opens a new phase of economic and social planning. It will be a priority objective of the Government to participate in the definition of new lines of action to relaunch investment plans and increase the margins of flexibility in order to strengthen social cohesion. Italy must play a leading role in a phase of relaunching and renewing the European Union, understood as a tool for reducing inequalities and meeting the challenge of environmental sustainability. The Government will work to promote the changes needed to overcome the excessive rigidity of European constraints, which make current public budget policies mainly oriented to stability and less to growth, so as to take into account the overall economic cycles and avoid the triggering of regressive processes. We need a Europe that is more supportive, more inclusive and, above all, closer to its citizens.
3) Our country’s industrial system suffers from problems of low growth and productivity, but it has great potential in itself to face the challenge of a new season of development that makes Agenda 2030 on sustainable development its strong point. We are a reality in which mass production meets the ability to customize the product. The presence of small and medium sized economic units (crafts, design, manufacturing) allows us flexibility in processes and adherence to market demands. Today the challenge is innovation linked to a convincing environmental transition of our industrial system, to green development to create quality jobs, to the full implementation of the circular economy, to the challenge of the “fourth industrial revolution”: digitization, robotization, artificial intelligence. The Business Plan 4.0 is the road map to be implemented and strengthened. The Government also intends to strengthen interventions in favour of small and medium enterprises.
4) It is necessary: a) reduce taxes on labour (the so-called “tax wedge”), to the total advantage of the workers; b) identify a fair wage (the so-called “minimum wage”), guaranteeing maximum protection for the benefit of the workers, also through the mechanism of the erga omnes effectiveness of the collective agreements signed by the most representative trade unions; c) approve a law on trade union representation, on the basis of strict indices; d) in compliance with European and national principles for the protection of competition, identify the right compensation for non-employed workers, in order to avoid forms of abuse and exploitation, particularly to the detriment of young professionals, also to protect the dignity of the profession; e) implement a strategic plan to prevent accidents at work and occupational diseases, ensuring high levels of safety and health protection in the workplace, as well as a system of efficient supervision, accompanied by an appropriate system of penalties; f) introduce a law on gender equality in wages; g) support women’s entrepreneurship; h) renew the so-called “women’s option” social security institution; i) transpose the European directives on compulsory paternity leave and the reconciliation of work and private life; l) increase the supplementary public social security fund, including the guarantee pension for young people.
5) It is essential to invest in the new generations, a real resource for the future of the country, in order to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to pursue a path of personal, social, cultural and professional growth in our country. It is also necessary to create the conditions so that those who have had to leave Italy can return and find adequate recognition of merit. It is necessary to increase welfare policies aimed at young people from low-income families.
6) The Government will promote a more effective protection of the rights of the person, even of the new generation, removing all forms of inequality (social, territorial, gender), which prevent the full development of the person and his or her involvement in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country. It is necessary to strengthen the protection and rights of minors. It is necessary to intervene with more effective support measures in favour of families (single allowance), with particular attention to large families without adequate economic resources and those with people with disabilities. It is also necessary to achieve a rational reunification of legislation on the discipline of disability support. Models need to be developed to facilitate mobility and accessibility, promoting policies that are not merely welfare-based, but geared towards the social inclusion of citizens with disabilities and the full exercise of active citizenship. The figure of the caregiver will also be promoted at a regulatory level, through the recognition of his social function.
7) The Government intends to create a Green New Deal, which will involve a radical change of cultural paradigm and will lead to the inclusion of the protection of the environment and biodiversity among the fundamental principles of our constitutional system. All public investment plans must focus on environmental protection, the progressive and increasingly widespread use of renewable sources, the protection of biodiversity and the seas, and the fight against climate change. Measures must be taken to encourage socially responsible practices on the part of businesses; to pursue the full implementation of eco-innovation; and to introduce a special fund to guide, even on a multiannual basis, business initiatives in this direction. It is necessary to promote technological development and the most innovative research in order to make the “ecological transition” as effective as possible and to direct the entire production system towards a circular economy that favours the culture of recycling and definitively disposes of the culture of waste.
8) A public housing plan should be drawn up to restructure the existing heritage and reuse disused public facilities in favour of low-income families and young people; the resources of the National Lease Support Fund should be adapted; and negotiations on leases should be made more transparent.
9) The highest priority must be given to measures aimed at strengthening policies for securing the territory and combating hydrogeological instability, for the conversion of businesses, for energy efficiency, for the regeneration of cities and internal areas, for sustainable mobility and for land reclamation. It is necessary to speed up the reconstruction of the areas affected by the earthquake, also through the adoption of organic legislation that will make procedures faster. Action is needed on soil consumption, combating agro-mafia, food sophistication and zero waste. Legislation must be introduced to prevent the granting of new drilling concessions for the extraction of hydrocarbons in the future. In this regard, the Government undertakes to promote international agreements that also oblige the countries bordering the Mediterranean to avoid drilling concessions as much as possible. The Government also undertakes to promote policies aimed at encouraging the construction of recycling plants and, consequently, to reduce the need for incineration plants, making it no longer necessary to obtain new authorisations for their construction.
10) It is necessary to include, in the first useful calendar of the Chamber of Deputies, the reduction of the number of parliamentarians, at the same time initiating a process to increase the appropriate constitutional guarantees and democratic representation, ensuring political and territorial pluralism. In particular, it is necessary to start a path of reform, as much as possible shared in Parliament, of the electoral system. At the same time, it is necessary to proceed with the reform of the requirements of active and passive electorate for the election of the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies, and to initiate a constitutional revision aimed at introducing institutions that ensure more balance to the system and that help to bring citizens closer to the institutions.
11) The strategic objective will be to strengthen the university system and the research system as a whole, also through greater investment. It is also considered necessary to support the AFAM system (Higher Artistic and Musical Education). Interventions will have to be put in place to favour a more intense coordination and a more organic connection between university centres and research bodies, favouring the internationalisation of the same. The recruitment system must be aligned with the best international standards and must also be strengthened through the establishment of a national agency, on the model of those established in other European countries, which can coordinate and increase the quality and effectiveness of public policies on research. New forms of funding should be tested and innovative public-private partnership formulas should be encouraged. Finally, it is necessary to rethink the model of access to degree courses with a programmed number.
12) A new growth strategy based on sustainability requires investments aimed at modernising existing infrastructure and creating new infrastructure, in order to create a modern, connected, integrated and safer system that takes account of the social and environmental impact of the works.
13) The Government pursues the protection of national interests, promoting a new global balance based on cooperation and peace and strengthening the system of development cooperation, in the framework of an “effective multilateralism”, based on the pillar of the Euro-Atlantic alliance, with reference to the work of the United Nations, and on the pillar of European integration. The Government is also committed to strengthening — also within the European Union — an investment policy aimed at the African continent, according to a model of partnership between equals. It is also necessary to promote measures aimed at protecting Italian citizens abroad and reforming the AIRE. With regard to the export of arms, it is necessary to make the legislation more stringent, avoiding the export of arms and components that could affect the civilian population.
14) Italy needs a serious law on conflict of interest and a reform of the radio and television system based on the protection of independence and pluralism. More generally, the Government will implement policies to promote pluralism of information.
15) It is necessary to make the civil, criminal and tax justice system more efficient, also through a drastic reduction in time; to reform the method of election of the members of the Superior Council of the Magistracy; to guarantee the independence of the magistracy from politics.
16) In the pursuit of legality, it is necessary to strengthen the fight against mafia organizations and tax evasion, including by increasing the penalties, including prison sentences, for large tax evaders and by making commercial transactions as transparent as possible, facilitating, extending and increasing compulsory electronic payments and drastically reducing transaction costs.
17) A tax reform should be implemented, including the simplification of the discipline, a more effective alliance between taxpayers and the financial administration and the reshaping of the rates, in line with the constitutional principle of the progressiveness of taxation, with the result of reducing the tax burden, while respecting the constraints of balance of the framework of public finance. At the same time, the spending review will need to be effectively completed, with a significant revision of expenditure items. Similarly, a review of tax expenditures will be carried out.
18) It is essential to promote a strong European response, especially by reforming the Dublin Regulation, to the problem of managing migratory flows, overcoming a purely emergency logic in favour of a structural approach that addresses the issue as a whole, including through the definition of a comprehensive set of rules that would pursue the fight against illegal trafficking in persons and illegal immigration, but — at the same time — address the issues of integration. The security discipline will have to be reviewed in the light of the recent remarks made by the President of the Republic.
19) An extraordinary plan of investments for growth and work in the South must be launched, also through the strengthening of the action of the public bank for investments, which helps businesses throughout Italy and which is dedicated to closing the territorial gap of our Country. For the most disadvantaged areas, it is necessary to promote the adoption and coordination of various regulatory and intervention instruments, such as Institutional Development Contracts, Special Economic Zones and Network Contracts. The fundamental objective is to accelerate the implementation of strategic projects, which are functionally connected, for the enhancement of the territories, making the best use of the European Development and Cohesion Funds. This includes infrastructure projects, economic, productive and entrepreneurial development, tourism, culture and enhancement of natural resources, environment, employment and social inclusion.
20) It is necessary to complete the process of differentiated, just and cooperative autonomy, which safeguards the principle of national cohesion and solidarity, the protection of legal and economic unity; defines the essential levels of services concerning civil and social rights, standard needs; fully implements Article 119, paragraph five, of the Constitution, which provides for the establishment of an equalization fund to ensure that all citizens have the same quality of services. This will prevent this legitimate reform process from contributing to widening the gap between the North and the South of the country. In the considered reconnaissance of the subjects and competences to be transferred and of the consequent repercussions — of a political, legal, economic and social nature — that this transfer determines, it is necessary to proceed with the utmost attention. In this perspective, the role of the Parliament will be decisive and central, and it will have to be involved also in advance, not only in the final legislative phase of approval. It is also necessary to revise the single text for local authorities, introducing an Urban Agenda for the sustainable development of cities, metropolitan cities and the capital city of Rome, implementing the law for the enhancement of small municipalities, eliminating unnecessary bodies. Finally, it is necessary to ensure respect for special statute autonomy and the protection of linguistic minorities.
21) In line with EU law, policies must be put in place to protect savers and savings, including by acting on the banking system.
22) Common goods must be protected, starting with public schools: action must be taken against overcrowded classes and the role of teachers must be enhanced, including economically, by strengthening the national plan for school building and guaranteeing free schooling for students from families with low and middle incomes, and by combating early school leaving and bullying. Water is a common good: a law on public water must be approved immediately, completing the current legislative process. The Government is committed to defending public and universal health, valuing merit. It is also necessary, in agreement with the Regions, to ensure a plan for the extraordinary recruitment of doctors and nurses; to integrate local health and social-health services; to strengthen medical training courses. Action to combat pathological gambling will be strengthened. Our infrastructures are also public goods and this is why it is necessary to guarantee greater investments, to ensure more frequent ordinary and extraordinary maintenance, to protect users and to strengthen the surveillance system with regard to infrastructural safety. The revision of motorway concessions will also be launched, confirming the single tariff plan. Finally, it is necessary to strengthen the legislation to protect animals, combating all forms of violence and ill-treatment against them.
23) To promote access to full democratic participation and information and technological transformation, digital citizenship must be recognized to every Italian citizen from birth, recognizing — among the rights of the person — also the right of access to the network.
24) The Government believes that a large industrial country like Italy should set itself the objective of technological innovation as a vector of economic growth, encouraging the increase of private investments, still too far from the European average, in innovative start-ups and SMEs. Aware that the entire “country-system” needs renewed digital skills, the P.A. innovation and digitalization project is also a particularly effective measure to contribute to the development and economic and cultural growth of the country. To this end, the integration of digital technologies in decision-making processes will be promoted, through an increasing interoperability of technological solutions, a better use of public data, a growing spread of common standards.
25) In the context of the governance of the digital society, it will be decisive to concentrate on fiscal equity, data portability, the rights of digital workers (so-called riders), redistributive models that affect electronic commerce, logistics, finance, tourism, industry and agriculture. The web tax must be introduced for multinationals in the sector that move profits and information to countries other than those where they sell their products.
26) It is necessary to offer greater protection and value to the personnel of the defence, of the police forces and of the fire-brigade (security and public rescue sector).
27) The Government is aware that tourism is a strategic sector for our Country, also because it contributes for more than 10 per cent of the GDP. For this reason, a serious revision of public governance is necessary, accompanied by concrete measures in support of companies that carry out hospitality, with particular attention to accessibility. The Government is also committed to promoting multiform tourism routes, enhancing the richness of our natural, historical, artistic and cultural heritage, also through the recovery of the oldest identities and local traditions. In general, the conservation and enhancement of the artistic and cultural heritage of the country are priority objectives of government action.
28) We need to strengthen our exports, identifying the most suitable tools to promote and accompany the Made in Italy, strengthening the activities of advice and financial support and insurance in favor of exporters, including through the identification of an appropriate model of risk sharing between Sace and MEF. More generally, it is necessary to accompany and support Italian entrepreneurs who operate abroad, drawing up some proposals aimed at introducing best practices in this field, obtained from comparative analysis with other legal systems.
29) Agriculture and agri-food represent a decisive sector with respect to the challenges that our country must face. It is necessary to develop the agricultural and organic supply chain, good agronomic practices; preserve and increase the quality of the territory, containing the consumption of agricultural land; adopt the necessary tools to preserve traditional and organic crops, protecting peculiarities and specific production, as well as peasant agriculture in the so-called “marginal areas”; support youth farms; invest in research in agriculture, identifying as priorities the sustainability of crops and the fight against climate change, the efficient and sustainable use of water resources, the wider dissemination of precision agriculture. It is also necessary to help strengthen EU rules on food labelling and traceability and to pay the utmost attention, when negotiating trade agreements, to safeguarding typical products. For agricultural enterprises, a strategic negotiation for the new CAP will soon be opened: Italy will have to pursue, also at that time, the objective of enhancing our agricultural excellence and the agri-food chain.
