the M5S will be there»- Corriere.it

Dear director,
in July 2020 the European Council was held which ended the exhausting negotiation for the 209 billion of the Recovery Fund. A long-time politician warned me right away: “This is the beginning of the end for your government, political opponents and various business committees will never let you manage those funds.” The warning didn’t leave me indifferent, but it didn’t dim the satisfaction of having achieved a historic result for Italian citizens, who finally glimpsed a concrete season of social and environmental growth and development on the horizon. Those 209 billion were also the tangible sign of a new Europe, capable of closing the season of austerity and responding in the sign of a more mature solidarity to the tragedy of the pandemic that had hit our country so hard.

Within months, that prophecy began to materialize. Adversaries, even internal to the government forces, the opposition forces, a good part of the media and various exponents of some economic and financial circuits intensified their efforts to raise the perception that the incumbent government did not offer sufficient guarantees to manage efficiently the funds of the Pnrr. The rest of the story is known and I left Palazzo Chigi when the Plan was nearing completion, waiting to be presented in Brussels. The legacy of the government led by Mario Draghi, certified by his latest Nadef, is 13 billion euros of lower expenses of the Pnrr than those foreseen by him in the previous Def. Then the government of Giorgia Meloni arrived and it is the news that updates us on how things are going: Italy is in a condition of clear difficulty. A good half of the initiatives and measures are late and only 6% of the funds have been spent, as certified by the Court of Auditors. The prospect, confirmed by Minister Fitto’s statements, is that some projects cannot be implemented within the established deadline.

However, faced with the possibility of losing Pnrr funds, even an intransigent opposition force such as the 5 Star Movement cannot stand by and watch. At stake is something that goes beyond the dynamics of the majority and the opposition, which is detached from the logic of electoral consensus. This is where Italy’s credibility is at stake. If we fail on the Pnrr, not only Giorgia Meloni fails, the whole of Italy fails and the possibility of its definitive relaunch. Missing this opportunity means missing out on a widespread revolution in terms of greater investments in healthcare, schools, infrastructures, in everything that can make us face a demanding ecological and digital transition, in the name of greater social inclusion. Our failure risks bringing with it the failure of the idea of ​​a Europe of solidarity, with the result of leaving the field free for the hawks of cuts and austerity and opening a highway to a renewed sense of distrust towards the Italy and to the whole of Europe.

For these reasons, the M5S will leave no stone unturned. He is willing to sit down at a table and roll up his sleeves to make his contribution in the common interest, to remedy the delays accumulated in recent months and the mistakes made so far. We must all do it, even those who, like us, are linearly in opposition. However, we set two preconditions to Giorgia Meloni. The first is a major transparency operation, absolutely necessary to identify what is not working and where action needs to be taken. The second is listening to the proposals of the M5S and of other political forces, including those of the opposition, who want to offer their contribution. The Pnrr is not a flag to be reduced to being a fan around: those 209 billion have only one flag, that of Italy. A few days ago Giorgia Meloni said she would resign rather than go to Europe as I did. After bringing 209 billion to Italy from Brussels, I would instead resign from my political duties if today I limited myself to making polemics without making myself available to my country to save those funds and the concrete prospect of a better future.