[ad_1]
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has warned that the “fate of the country” depends on the success of a € 248 billion investment and reform package to relaunch its economic pandemic.
Speaking to parliament on Monday, Draghi, who was appointed to head a government of national unity in February, outlined high stakes in a plan to address some of the most entrenched structural problems in the eurozone’s third-largest economy.
“In the set of programs I present to you today there is also and above all the destiny of the country,” Draghi said. “The extent of what his role will be in the international community: his credibility and reputation as a founder of the European Union and a leading player in the Western world.”
Italy, that has been seriously injured by the pandemic in both health and economic terms, it will receive one of the largest installments in the EU’s € 750 billion recovery and resilience plan, launched last year to help member states recover from the pandemic. Spain is expected to be another of the main recipients.
Draghi said the package would include € 191.5 million of EU funds and € 30.6 billion in money from Italy’s national budget to invest in transport, digitization and environment infrastructure, as well as invest in structural reforms to modernize the Italian bureaucracy. An additional 26 billion euros have also been allocated, mainly to improve transport connections between the south and the north, bringing the total package to 248 billion euros.
He said spending will focus on three main goals for Italy: bridging the divide between the country’s industrialized and rich north and the poorest south; improving gender equality; and reduce the disparity between generations.
Draghi’s government predicts that the economy’s boost from investment and reform will add 3.2 percentage points to gross domestic product between 2024 and 2026.
Of the total, 40% will go to green projects, which Draghi said were “especially important for Italy, which is more exposed to climate risks than other countries,” and 27% dedicated to digitizing the Italian economy. .
Overlapping, 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 rail line between Salerno and the southern city of Reggio Calabria, as well as to upgrade the train line between Milan and Venice in the north.
Other investments will include € 32 billion in education, such as boosting research and vocational training and increasing the number of nursery schools and nursery schools.
The prime minister said € 22 billion will be spent on training workers and improving social inclusion and € 18.5 billion on public health, including strengthening primary care and digitizing the health sector.
“The Covid-19 pandemic confirmed the universal value of health, its nature as a fundamental public good, and the macroeconomic importance of public health services,” Draghi said.
Draghi, who commands an overwhelming parliamentary majority with the support of almost all Italian political parties, also warned the country’s legislators of the need for unity to ensure reforms are successful.
“The renovation work will fail. . . if there are no disinterested men willing to work and sacrifice for the common good, ”he said, quoting Alcide De Gasperi, the prime minister of the post-war Italian republic.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to implement that plan,” he said. “I am confident that honesty, intelligence and care for the future will prevail over corruption, stupidity and vested interests.”
[ad_2]
Source link
