A-Infos (en) Italy, UCADI, #205 - Italian Diary (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

After 41 months in office, Giorgia Meloni can claim to have discreetly 
fascistized the country, administering an intangible distillation of 
castor oil that is equally effective, albeit in a modernized version. 
This is aided by an international climate dominated by conservative 
policies, a deteriorating but not excessively so economic situation 
(despite the steady decline in industrial production), the absence of a 
political opposition worthy of the name, a lack of communication on the 
country's problems and lacking an alternative program to the 
government's, and completely penalized by its substantial consensus on 
strategic choices in international politics.

As the legislative session draws to a close, the government appears to 
be firmly in place, unless the unfavorable outcome of the justice 
referendum poses the first obstacle to its policies. This is without it 
having kept any of the 100 pre-election promises shared by Brothers of 
Italy, the League, Forza Italia, and Noi Moderati.

Combating Emigration

Meloni won the election promising a solution to the migration problem, 
considered the country's primary emergency by her electorate. On this 
issue, the government has implemented a two-pronged policy: on the one 
hand, it had to expand the immigration decree due to requests from 
entrepreneurs struggling due to labor shortages. However, due to the 
cumbersome mechanisms with which the measure is implemented and 
insufficient numbers, it has failed to meet demand. The repressive 
policy toward migrants has, however, worked, as evidenced by the many 
deaths in Cutro and the many bodies washed up on the coasts during the 
heavy storms in February. This is all while funding for concentration 
camps in Libya continues, while the monstrous ones in Albania remain 
empty, at a cost of over a billion euros.
The truth is that the government does not want to address the problem of 
regulating the labor market, which the exploitation of illegal 
emigration serves. The presence of a labor market fueled by migrants 
unable to regularize their status and therefore be hired legally allows 
the overall labor cost to be kept low and tapped into by offering 
precarious and poorly paid jobs to this industrial reserve army, 
especially those needed for certain agricultural activities such as 
harvesting tomatoes, grapes, or apples, and any other activities 
requiring unskilled labor. And these are not seasonal jobs, as this type 
of labor is also employed in increasingly widespread greenhouse 
cultivation. Furthermore, even labor-intensive jobs such as shipbuilding 
or construction, jobs with a high rate of accidents, absorb this type of 
labor, and therefore regularizing them is not economically viable. A 
labor policy that includes the creation of selection centers in the 
countries of origin, training programs, and regular hiring would be an 
effective way to stem the structural phenomenon of emigration caused by 
wars, climate disasters, and hunger. But the government has not 
forgotten workers with regular employment contracts, solving the problem 
of terminating some contracts that had expired many years ago, such as 
those of the Ministerial staff, in its own way. It has chosen the CISL 
and UGL unions as its trade union partners to negotiate separate 
contracts, thus breaking union unity.
The government has implemented a reduction in the tax wedge, making it 
structural, but has also reversed its effects through changes to tax 
rates and even paltry contractual increases. Thus, despite a nominal 
increase, workers have had to endure a real reduction in the purchasing 
power of their wages exceeding 8.8%.
As a result, low-paid jobs have increased, and families living on low 
incomes have reached more than six million Italians. Meanwhile, the 
number of people who frequent collective soup kitchens and solidarity 
food shops, frequented by pensioners and those who, despite working, 
cannot even meet their food needs because they earn minimal wages, has 
increased.
The government has diligently repealed every measure relating to the 
housing plan, thus achieving some of its objectives: providing 
assistance to developers to boost the private real estate market, 
targeting young couples looking to start a family, worsening the 
desperation not only of the homeless but also of families in precarious 
conditions, and increasing evictions not only for delinquent tenants but 
also for those who have terminated their lease.
What can we say about the policy toward pensioners, who were promised 
the abolition of the Fornero law, but who were given a EUR3 monthly 
raise and raised the retirement age, thus worsening the very provisions 
of the Fornero law?

The Obsession with Security

But where the government indulged in repetitive measures was in the 
security sector, introducing between 48 and over 60 new crimes into the 
penal code through repeated legislative instruments and decrees, to 
which numerous aggravating circumstances were added, presuming the 
repression of any form of dissent and protest, even non-violent ones. 
This even went as far as prevention implemented through the fascist 
method of preventive and precautionary detention, presuming the 
possibility of the intention to commit a crime and thus blatantly 
violating numerous constitutional norms, such as the right to 
demonstrate peacefully and without weapons, or the right to travel 
throughout the country. The governing majority was undoubtedly inspired 
by the extremely fascist laws that, in another form and context, the 
prime minister
wants to reintroduce, doing everything she can to suggest the existence 
and emergency climate of the "Years of Lead," perhaps out of nostalgia 
for the years that shaped her political education, or more likely 
because she is resentful and seeking revenge.
The measure, which would allow police forces to detain people in their 
offices for up to 12 hours for preventive checks ahead of demonstrations 
or events, without the need for a magistrate's order, faithfully 
reproduces the activities of the fascist police, who detained 
individuals they deemed "subversive" in advance of visits by the Duce or 
regime leaders.
Public unease over petty crimes such as pickpocketing, theft, knife 
threats, and so on is addressed by paying particular attention to 
certain categories of citizens, such as nomads or migrants, who are 
considered inherently capable of criminal behavior, or who are monitored 
through the introduction of electronic surveillance tools like metal 
detectors, cameras, and surveillance cameras. This is done without 
considering measures that attempt to address the underlying causes, such 
as the introduction of emotional education in schools or the creation of 
social and community facilities that address both youth and behavioral 
issues. The response is provided by measures such as the Gaviano decree, 
and the surviving community centers still present in the area are 
closed, citing the government's disapproval of political activities 
taking place there. Every effort is made to encourage any violent 
response to these measures.
Even the issue of rape against women, an increasingly frequent crime, is 
addressed with the chauvinistic attitude typical of the 1920s. Despite 
an agreement between the majority and opposition to pass a law that 
strongly condemns it, to protect women, this law is quietly ignored, 
prompting criticism of the agreed-upon wording. Nor does the attack on 
women stop there, as evidenced by the abolition of "Azione Donna," a 
program designed to allow women who spend the longest time in strenuous 
work to retire from the labor market. One might think that a government 
harking back to the values of the 1920s would at least support 
motherhood, even as a minimal measure to combat non-demographic decline. 
Well, no, the government has maintained VAT on infant products such as 
diapers and baby food.

Education and Healthcare

An efficient government, faced with the changes introduced to productive 
activities by new technologies, should be concerned and introduce the 
necessary innovations in education to enable schools to improve the 
quality and quantity of education for the population. Conversely, the 
management of the Ministry of Education and of so-called merit is 
extremely opaque and lacking in results. The outcome of the innovation 
jointly promoted by the Minister of Education and Merit and the Minister 
of Made in Italy is emblematic: the establishment of the so-called Made 
in Italy High School, which stands out for its lack of options for 
students and, despite requiring a billion-dollar investment, struggles 
to attract the minimum number of students necessary for the functioning 
of some sections.
What can we say about the militarization of schools and the management 
of the teaching staff, with its widespread disciplinary measures, the 
persistent lack of qualified teachers, and the growing dilapidation of 
school facilities, which have failed to adequately seize the opportunity 
afforded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) to secure 
the necessary funding for improved and more efficient school buildings.
Despite the demographic decline, our country's education system still 
produces outstanding talent, but these are largely found among the 
500,000 young people who leave the country each year in search of better 
working conditions than Italy can offer, while mass school dropouts are 
on the rise.
But one of the most sore points remains the national healthcare system, 
increasingly in crisis and increasingly besieged by the growing private 
healthcare sector, increasingly funded by government measures that 
facilitate its operations, even without addressing the inefficiencies of 
the public healthcare system and the long-standing problem of waiting 
lists for healthcare services. Even though the prime minister claims to 
have increased the absolute volume of healthcare funding, and despite a 
contract for the national healthcare service being signed for nurses and 
doctors, granting some salary compensation that, however, does not 
bridge the gap between them and colleagues working in other European 
Union countries, the conditions of the national healthcare system remain 
on the verge of collapse.
The shortage of both medical and paramedical personnel is particularly 
serious, fueled by the departure of many workers attracted by the better 
working conditions and pay offered by other European Union countries.
The significant structural and personnel intervention, due to the lack 
of economic resources foolishly allocated to rearmament to support 
Ukraine's criminal and masochistic financing policy, risks depriving the 
population of this service, which contributes significantly to indirect 
wages, forcing ever more people to pay just to obtain necessary care.

Support for the economy and development

Although the government can claim to have kept public finances under 
control, effectively implementing a recessionary policy and reducing 
consumption, it has completely lacked an industrial and economic policy 
to support production. Businesses have been left to fend for themselves, 
failing to renew the support tools established by previous governments. 
The same can be said for the management of industrial crises, which have 
been exacerbated and have not been resolved in any way. Layoff benefits 
have seen significant growth, with an estimated increase of around 
10%-22% compared to the previous year, particularly in the extraordinary 
component (+46%-+58%). This phenomenon is driven by the crisis in the 
manufacturing and automotive sectors, particularly in the Northwest. 
Industrial production has steadily declined over the past three years 
and stands at -0.2% this year.
Agriculture has performed better, recovering after the decline in 2023, 
despite facing structural challenges in cereals (-7.1%) and olive oil 
(-5%). However, many uncertainties remain, created by the possible 
signing of the Mercosur treaty and, even more so, by the opening of the 
EU agricultural market for produce from Ukraine, despite the fact that 
this country does not meet EU standards regarding quality protection and 
the use of herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, and genetically modified 
seeds.

Faced with a shrinking international market, the government should have 
adopted measures to boost the domestic market to offset the negative 
international situation.
Faced with all this, the government found no better solution than to 
resort to the formula dear to the Bourbons: pitchforks, flour, and 
celebration.
Thus, while the country is paralyzed by the Olympics, in the presence of 
the President of the Republic, it applauds the presence of genocidal 
Zionist Israeli athletes and denounces the Olympic truce rejected by the 
evil Russians after being expelled from the games by the US-dominated 
and Western-controlled Olympic Committee.
Meanwhile, the government calmly enacts liberticidal measures to repress 
the rising neo-terrorism perpetrated by left-wing extremism.
But the government has forgotten the flour: better living conditions and 
income for the population.

The Editorial Staff

https://www.ucadi.org/2026/03/01/diario-italiano/
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