Italy and Covid-19, A Year On

The last few weeks have been particularly difficult for Italy. On March 18, a national day in memory of the victims of Covid-19 was observed for the first time. An anniversary set up to remember the tragic events that have marked our daily life for a year now. Covid has hit hard with 105,000 deaths so far. The pandemic also hit Italy strongly last year. It was the first European country to declare a national lockdown (from the 9th of March 2020 to until the 4th of May 2020) and one with the highest number of deaths all over the world.

At the beginning of the legislature in 2018 the government was composed of the League (Matteo Salvini’s Party, right-wing/far right, I&D) and the 5 Stars Movement (post-ideologic/anti-partitocracy, NI). Giuseppe Conte was the prime minister of this coalition which was practically led by Salvini (Home Office Minister and a supporter of Trump and Orban). However, during this legislature the government fell due to a political move made by Salvini that was not effective: the new government is composed by the Democratic Party (centre-left/S&D), the 5 Stars Movement and Free and Equal (LeU, a centre-left/left-wing cartel, S&D/GUE). Immediately after the start of the activity of the government there was a split inside Democratic Party: Italy Alive (centre/centre-left, Renew Europe), led by Matteo Renzi, was born.

In March, after the beginning of the lockdown, the government was united under the guide of Giuseppe Conte and very popular. However there started to be some divisions about the usage of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), particularly supported by Renzi and a part of Democratic party. In May, Conte reached out to obtain a substantial part of European Recovery fund (Next Generation EU). Furthermore 5 Stars Movement won a referendum about the cut of the number of MPs in the two houses of the parliament. At this point there were some contrasts inside the majority about the use of DPCM (a legislative act of the Prime Minister which has an immediate application) and some task forces nominated by the government which had to decide the usage of the money of the recovery fund. As a consequence, on the 26th of January 2021, Giuseppe Conte resigned from the role of Prime Minister after a political crisis started by Renzi. At the same time, League and Brothers of Italy (far-right, ECR) began to increase their popularity in opinion polls meanwhile the parties at the government and Forza Italia (centre-right/PPE) were less supported. 

The government crisis ended with the birth of a new government supported by a very large majority, including the League, Forza Italia, Italia Viva, Democratic Party, 5 Star Movement and LeU. This vast majority is functional to guaranteeing support for Mario Draghi, former governor of the ECB, who is now preparing to manage the post-pandemic phase in Italy. The only opposition force in Parliament is Brothers of Italy. This of course creates big problems as this post-fascist party could capitalize on the consensus according to the opposition. This is a non-accidental handover, which marks the expression of concrete interests of large national capitalists as evidenced by the countless attacks carried out by Confindustria (Italian Employers’ federation) against workers in the last year. It is the reorganization of economic interests linked to the large northern companies, the need for the EU to have strong guarantees of control over the economic and industrial restructuring processes that will occur in Italy. Draghi is the perfect man for this task and the newly appointed government team already expresses a strong signal on the political direction that the executive will take. The “challenge” posed by the 209 billion euros of financing from the EU Recovery Fund risks turning into rich slices of investments in favour of companies, for the completion of useless and expensive major works, for an overall reduction of resources in the public sector.

We continued to fight (as in the past years) for a wealth tax and a universal basic income, which is what we need to support the measures for the workers and to redistribute wealth. We still want a stronger, public, and free health system, which is clearly crucial to manage the pandemic. As Young Communists we supported the position of our Party (Communist Refoundation Party). Furthermore, we asked for economic support for young people, more investments for computers and internet connections and a public service to improve the mental health of persons who suffered more during the lockdown. In the end, we created a live channel on Facebook during the first wave of Covid, called “Linea Alternativa”, to feed the political debate and offer an alternative and socialist point of view. Last December we organized an international online event discussing ideas and proposals for the world after the pandemic. Europe proved to be a battlefield with the outbreak of the pandemic. The much-vaunted European solidarity continues to waver. The rush for vaccines, the hoarding of doses, bilateral agreements, the supply of machinery and adequate protective devices are all elements on which divisions and rifts have been consummated between EU countries. Faced with this scenario, the solidarity practiced by socialist countries like Cuba had enormous prominence.

But the pandemic also represented a frontal attack on our lives as young generations, hitting our hopes, our dreams, our idea of the future. The pandemic impacts our bodies, pushes us to make new decisions and face new challenges, while at the same time depriving us of experiences postponed to hypothetical deadlines of the emergency phase. The sense of precariousness and fragility of the future is growing strongly in us. These elements paint a grim picture before us. But do we have to resign and surrender for this? Absolutely not. 

Despite the difficulties, the pandemic had the "merit" of finally unveiling some contradictions of capitalism hidden for too long under the veil of neoliberal rhetoric. In fact, think of the austerity paradigm, the cornerstone of EU policies for over ten years, which has had to bow to the serious difficulties of the Member States and their need to count on immediate aid. Think of the new centrality assumed by health care and the role of the state in the public debate after decades of cuts, privatizations and blaming of public employees. Facing this scenario, it is up to us to reflect, discuss and act. Pandemic has not changed at all our political positions which were expressed before the pandemic and it confirms what we already know for over 100 years: capitalism is not a fair system. But we have an important issue to deal with: be perceived as a real alternative to the neoliberal policy of the right-wing and the centre. It is a tough work, but we have to do it if we want to make a fairer and socialist Italy

Le Vincenzo Colprice, Giovani Comuniste/i