Italy — LIBRARY — Own the way you live

On June 8th, 2021, the Horasis community gathered for the annual Global Meeting to navigate latest developments and discuss the post-COVID future. Under the theme “Fostering Shared Humanity”, over 1000 speakers and delegates debated how to be entrepreneurial and at the same time proactive in advancing sustainable development in the interest of the global public good.

What are the seedpods of shared solutions to solve the existential challenges facing business, governments and humanity at large? How to nurture the deep transformations our world needs? And how to ignite discourses on openness, fair globalization and equality?

I was delighted to curate and moderate an incredible panel and to discuss with leading professionals from the government and the private sector how a strong and resilient recovery in post-pandemic Italy is possible and is happening.

A little background first: Italy is the eurozone’s third-largest economy, and was the first European country to be hit by the pandemic in early 2020.

A recent New York Times article titled “How Mario Draghi Is making Italy a power player in Europe”, detailing how the Prime Minister is leveraging his European relationships and his solid reputation to make Italy a stronger force on the continent.

When in late March the EU was stumbling through a Covid-19 vaccine rollout coupled with shortages and logistical challenges, Draghi took matters into his own hands by seizing a shipment of vaccines destined for Australia – and showing that a new, aggressive and strong force had arrived in the European bloc. The Australia experiment, as officials in Europe call it, was a turning point, for Europe and for Italy. With Chancellor Merkel of Germany leaving office in September and President Macron of France facing very tough elections next year, Draghi seems to be poised to fill a leadership vacuum in Europe, showing that Italy is now punching above its weight.

On April 28th, the Italian parliament approved the ‘Italian National Reform and Resilience Plan”, which foresees reforms and investments to be implemented in the span of the next five years. With a total value of €235 billion, the Italian Recovery Plan represents the largest Recovery and Resilience Plan, as well as the one on which all eyes will be on.

In a short interview during the same month, Mario Draghi confirmed that Italy's 160% debt ratio, second highest in the euro zone but far from Japan’s debt at 200%, is not worrying because low interest rates, central bank support and the COVID-19 pandemic have changed the way markets view debt sustainability.

“Today’s eyes – he stated - see things completely differently, the pandemic has made it legitimate to create more debt, it has prompted the ECB’s strategy and driven the behaviour of those who make the rules in Brussels, however we must make a distinction between “good debt and bad debt”, what matters is that countries use debt for productive investment in order to create growth”.

Although since 1992 the Italian governments have had budget surpluses year after year, over the last 20 years, Italy has experienced a period of economic stagnation.

Most economists agree in identifying the cause of such stagnation in the decline of productivity, which in turn is largely driven by a series of structural deficiencies afflicting both the private and public sector.

To support the country’s recovery, in line with the EU guidelines, the investments and reforms foreseen by the Italian Recovery Plan are articulated into six major missions:

1. Digitalization, innovation, competitiveness and culture

2. Green revolution and ecological transition;

3. Infrastructure for sustainable mobility;

4. Education and research;

5. Cohesion and inclusion;

6. Health.

About 40 per cent of the Recovery Plan will be spent on green projects, and 27 per cent will be dedicated to the digitalisation of the Italian economy. The plan is heavy on investments to modernize, boost innovation and digitize Italy’s economy and bureaucracy and encourage environmentally sustainable development.

Bank of Italy indications of last week show production regaining strong momentum, fresh investments, and an accelerating economy, with a 4% GDP growth shown so far in 2021, up to 4.5% according to the OECD. Due to the pandemic, Italian companies and families have saved over 140 billion euros, or 9% of GDP. Something similar has also happened elsewhere in Europe.

On June 1st, during a public event, prime Minister Draghi said “Italy is alive, strong, and has a great desire to restart. The months of the pandemic were very tough but we are now facing a phase of recovery and trust, on which to build a fairer and more modern country. And to release the energies that have stood still in recent years.”

So, will a recovery gradually take shape and become as impetuous as data indicators seem to show? Can technology promote a new model beyond GDP to measure a modern country’s wealth and sustainability while guaranteeing sustainable development? Join our discussion and find out more, full session in the video below.

(info@smartbizhub.com)

“Inform to educate, publish to raise awareness, preserve to keep the memory, fight for a future full of solidarity, in which social values are shared and strive for a society based on true democracy.”

This the mission of “Corriere dell’Italianità”, a successful publication (both printed and digital) read across Europe as well as globally. The newspaper has a 57-year-old history, a very interesting and growing readership and is very well established within institutional and political environments.

But what is Italian-ness in Italy and the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, as well as all over the world, and what shines behind old and tired stereotypes?

Established in 1962, Corriere dell'Italianità aims at raising awareness on Italian culture, in Italy, in the Italian-speaking Switzerland, and all over the world. A publication of excellence that increasingly leverages innovation, digitisation, social values and the core societal themes we see reflected in politics, economy, the labour market, science, sports and free time. Headed by President Franco Narducci, member of Parliament of the Italian Republic (XV and XVI terms) and Vice President of the Foreign Affairs Commission, and spearheaded by Valeria Camia, director of Corriere, an experienced journalist with a strong background in the social policies sector and European universities.

I was delighted and honoured when I had the pleasure of giving an interview on my work and commitment to the cause of diversity and EQ-driven leadership to Corriere, and when I was later asked to join their outstanding board as a board member.

One of the first events I had the pleasure of attending took place on 23rd November 2019, where the Swiss Parliament President, Marina Carobbio Guscetti, offered a broad overview of the political scenario of the Swiss Confederation after the elections held on 20 October and the ballot for the formation of the Council of States.

Marina Carobbio with journalist Simona Cereghetti

Among the numerous relevant subjects discussed by President Carobbio, I reckon that a couple of pressing issues deserve a special mention as they also characterised the policy she adopted throughout her presidential mandate - which ended on 1 December 2019, after which she was elected to Councillor of the Assembly's upper house*.

In front of a crowded audience, Marina Carobbio answered the pressing questions of Simona Cereghetti – RSI's journalist and Berne correspondent. She started her reflection on gender disparities with the current situation in Parliament.

Today, the women sitting at the National Council represent 42% of all members, while the Council of States has 12 women (around 26%). Compared to the situation before the electoral round, these are extraordinary figures.

Thanks to an awareness-raising campaign supported by several social sectors (such as the "Helvetia ruft" campaign and the 14 June strike), today Switzerland lags behind significantly less with regards to equality between women and men in politics! Certainly, there remains ample room for improvement with the aim to increase female presence and visibility in key roles but the determination of Swiss women and the new-found unity goes beyond political parties and bode well for future development! Gradually, Swiss society is realising – both at an inter-generational and inter-party level – that remarkable results can be obtained through gender solidarity in terms of justice and reduction of inequalities between men and women.

At a closer look, it is clear that this achievement is also supported by men. This new attitude brings up other important subjects such as the traditional perception of the caregiver work, which is a task carried out mostly by women without a salary nor social insurance contributions.

A deception that will impinge upon their future retirement pension. In recent months or even weeks, discussions have been initiated in various working groups – both political and institutional ones – to examine the issue of workers leaving the labour market to look after not only their seriously ill children but also the elderly. “Within this ageing society”, said President Carobbio, “we can no longer postpone the issue of the role of women (and men) in care-giving activities. Facing the problem of gender differences becomes then a crucial issue because of its impact on social cohesion and, last but not least, on democracy – a kind of democracy that should guarantee not only equal rights but also equal opportunities.”

Along with the “genre” issue, the "Italian language" plays a decisive role in participation in political life and social cohesion in Switzerland. In a country founded on different cultures and traditions, expressed also linguistically, the use of all four national languages must be defended and strengthened.

We must underline that, for this reason, Marina Carobbio has made a change in the parliamentary operations, imposing a widespread use of her mother tongue, Italian, following up on what Chiara Simoneschi Cortesi had done before: she was, in fact, the first Italian-speaking woman President of the National Council (2008-2009) who carried out part of her parliamentary work in her mother tongue. In a country where anglicisms are commonly used and English seems to be taking over national minority languages between the various Swiss linguistic regions, the protection of the Italian language allows the safeguard of the history and culture of an important sector of the Swiss Confederation. A sector that struggles in finding a place of its own, squeezed between "the rest of Switzerland" to the north and the Lombard landscape to the south.

Manuela Andaloro

(Adapted from Valeria Camia’s article in Corriere dell’Italianita’)

*Marina Carobbio, role update: As of the 1st of December 2019, Member of Parliament Marina Carrobbio is a Councillor of the States: also a member of the commission on social security and health, a member of the commission on science, education and culture in which she promotes multilingualism, Italian-ness and gender equality and a member of the finance committee in which her political priorities are the climate crisis, pensions and labour mobility.

Switzerland’s new President for 2020. In Switzerland, the position of president is ceremonial. Switzerland’s executive is led jointly by all seven members of the Federal Council, known as les sept sages (the seven wise ones) by French speakers. The ceremonial role of the president rotates annually among Federal Council members. In addition to the diplomatic duties of the president, he or she chairs Federal Council meetings and has the tie-breaker vote on contentious decisions. In 2020 the role of president passes to Simonetta Sommaruga, Switzerland’s minister of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication.