Yes to assets, no to the Jobs Act. Here is Schlein’s economy

In recent months, many have wondered. The color scheme, social justice, environmental justice and anti-fascism are fine, but what does Elly Schlein think about the economy? Finally the time has come. Interviewing her on the stage of the Trento economy festival here is an amused Fabio Tamburini, director of Il Sole 24 ore. The title of the dialogue, for the sense of community dear to the secretary, is “Our (in the sense of the Pd ed) ideas in economics”. Tamburini is immediately eloquent: “Secretary, naturally my job is to ask questions”. And of course he did. Starting from the basics.

What does Elly Schlein think about GDP? Is it the right indicator to look at growth and well-being? Suspended breaths in the hall. Fortunately, at least on this there is common ground. “The growth of GDP – the dem secretary immediately says – is importantin the knowledge, however, that a change in the development model is needed”. Everything smooth? Not exactly. A reference to Bes (which stands for equitable sustainable well-being) could not be missing, the indicator so dear to former minister Enrico Giovannini, the mantra of the grillini of the first hour (but does anyone really know what it is?). “GDP alone is no longer enough to indicate the collective well-being of the community, The regions have also worked on the Bes”. On many issues, the secretary is keen to recall her economic beacon: Romano Prodi. He repeats it over and over again: “As Professor Prodi says…”. At one point Tamburini goes straight: Schlein are you in favor of a property? The secretary slips away. Like when she was asked about the waste-to-energy plant in Rome. “Then – he begins – in Italy there are already several estates”. But then she lets herself be seized by a liberating spontaneity: “In order to be able to make the system more equitable and progressive, action must be taken. We need to increase progressivity. Taxation on businesses and on labor must be reduced, but while it is being reduced, we must think why are the taxes on tax and real estate income so low, can it be said? We cannot deny that we are in a country with the lowest and most unfair inheritance tax, can we say it or not?”. Then he attacks the government on the cadastre: “It must be updated, even Europe is asking us for it”.

On debt, the answer is ambiguous: it must be reduced, but we need to go back to industrial policies (i.e. more state in the economy). Schlein says it this way: “We are the fifth largest public debt in the world, we have to reduce it, but we have to evaluate how. We must not lose the propensity for public investments and they cannot be left behind: school, health care, training”. On how the secretary keeps herself more vague: “We need an investment strategy that has a multiplier effect”. At work, the secretary reiterates that she deny the Jobs act: “I was against it, I left the Democratic Party for that”. And he is preparing for the barricades against the Meloni government’s Labor decree. “Beneath a wedge cut valid for only a few months there is a hidden law that makes precariousness structural, while we should do as in Spain, where they have limited fixed-term contracts”. The agreement with the audience comes about simplifications. “They serve both on bureaucracy and on the tax authorities”.

Out of the economy, on the flood in Emilia, the dem secretary confirms the line of total collaboration with the government already expressed in recent days: “Full availability both to the affected territories and to the government a work together in a spirit of national unity. We are talking about a phenomenon of an unprecedented magnitude. It is not a time for political exploitation”. When reminded that she was deputy governor of that Region, and that perhaps everything was not done well, Schlein replies: “A lot has been done in Emilia Romagna, but more can be done. Interventions for a billion have been put in place and 75 percent has been spent. It is difficult to say that Emilia-Romagna has shown a low spending capacity, but it is a fragile territory”. And if the territory has been well managed, one looks at what else can be done. Schlein says: “There has been denial about climate events and more can be done on land consumption, the Democratic Party is engaged in Parliament to ask for a law on this”.

Even on Ukraine Schlein is prodiana. You speak of China, multilateralism and European protagonism. “Do we still believe in multilateralism or do we no longer believe in it? We have a clear position in the Western camp. We have relations with other important powers, I am thinking of China. I would like to see – he added – a more active role for the European Union. If we fail to build a common foreign policy, I believe we will condemn ourselves to irrelevance in the geopolitical arena. We must build a new multilateralism, and give it more solidity and concreteness”.