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Statement by Claudio Borghi

Virtual Parliamentary Briefing on Pandemics with a special focus on COVID-19, 24 April 2020
by Claudio Borghi , Member of Italian Chamber of Deputies | on 24.04.20 | in Health
Italy has been one of the hardest-hit countries by the pandemic. The response from citizens has been exemplary, yet the principles of Democracy were also hit hard.

The Italian Parliament in particular has been completely marginalized since the beginning of the lockdown and became unable to work properly due to Covid-19. Since the Parliament was unable to ensure the security measures in the buildings, various solutions were implemented in the meantime. For example, deputies and senators did not have the chance to take part in the sessions while maintaining social distancing protocols like the European Parliament did. The choice, instead, was to reduce the work of the two Chambers, with small numbers of deputies and senators allowed weekly to participate in person to the few sessions held.

As a result of this crisis, all the economic measures, as well as those concerning fundamental freedoms, have been implemented exclusively by the Government and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. The Parliament, for almost the entire duration of the lockdown, was unable to lead a serious and constant discussion on the provisions adopted nor did it provide a real check on these provisions; therefore, the emergency decrees lacked total validation from the Parliament.

Our Republic was not ready to face the spread of Covid-19, but the Parliament should never be in a position of not being able to work properly. Even in front of an unforeseen disruption, there should never be a real stop to the ordinary democratic process.

It has also been impossible for the Chambers to address and confer a mandate to the Government for the negotiations within the European Council and the Eurogroup, held to find the deal on the necessary tools to face the economic crisis in the European Union and the Eurozone.

The Eurogroup and European Council’s meetings have been pointless and inconclusive. This is due to the hybrid nature of the European Union: a construction built on the sharing of obligations. The displayed solutions – SURE, ESM, the new program of EIB and the (not confirmed) Recovery Fund – are still not completely defined and, moreover, have been conceived exclusively as loans, granted by funds financed by the participating member States. The risk of offering only loans to the economies hit the hardest might start a vicious circle, which can affect on a long term the entire, global economy.

Businesses in Italy have already suffered from two months in lockdown, and, as a country which primarily depends on the touristic sector, will probably, continue to suffer for a long time before it recovers all economic losses.

For these reasons, our economy needs to get an immediate relief through grants instead of short-term loans, to allow internal trade to restart. The solution is already there: the body capable of providing the necessary aid to the Eurozone members is the ECB, already on action with the “PEPP- Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program”.

A long-term program by the ECB is the key to face the crisis. This is what Italy and the countries hit the hardest need right now – to monetize their public debt by issuing State bonds with low interest rates.

Unfortunately, the solutions chosen are totally insufficient, as the entire approach to the emergency of the European Union, which has revealed once again its ideological and rigid nature, is inadequate to deal pragmatically with the economic consequences of the Covid-19 crisis.

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Claudio Borghi|COVID-19|Virtual Parliamentary Briefing on Pandemics

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