Renzi writes to Conte: let's accept the Mes and recover 9 billion for culture

In a lengthy letter sent this morning to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Italia Viva leader Matteo Renzi outlined a number of points that he believes should be priorities for government action in the short term. The letter was made public by Matteo Renzi on his Facebook page.

A substantial section of the missive is dedicated to culture: for the former premier, Italy should accept the 36 billion loan offered by the Mes, the European Stability Mechanism (also known as the “Save States Fund”), the body that offers financial aid to European countries in economic difficulty. Italy could access a 36 billion loan, available immediately, to be repaid over ten years, with an interest rate that could be negative (as of September, the Mes was financing itself at a rate of -0.3 percent), and with the condition that it be spent directly or indirectly on health care. As is well known, there is much heated debate about the Mes, as there are many forces opposing the acceptance of the loan on the grounds that the Mes provides for very tight controls on the actual use of the resources (and for some this is a surveillance regime bordering on interference in Italy’s internal affairs) and on the grounds that the Mes could also apply a variable rate to the loan, a detail that could make costs uncertain.

Renzi is among the supporters of the Mes: in his view, recovering the 36 billion from the Mes can free up the 9 billion for health care currently in the Recovery Plan draft, which currently reserves only 3.1 billion for culture, making culture the least-funded sector in the draft, with just over 1 percent of the total. According to Renzi, the recovered 9 billion could be invested in culture.

“What is the reason for our rejection?” wonders Renzi in relation to the Mes debate. “Our parliamentarians have proposed a precise allocation of the 36 billion from the Mes. How can you say no to investment in health care, dear President? If we are in an emergency and have the highest number of deaths in Europe maybe we need to invest more in healthcare, don’t you think? This ideological rejection of the Mes seems more incomprehensible to me every day. By recovering Mes money, we can allocate the nine billion originally planned for health care to a sector that is decisive for our future: culture and tourism. We need to stop with a nineteenth-century view of museums and theaters, as if these can be considered mere divertissements for bored gentlemen: they are the basis of our identity. And the professionals who work there deserve to be treated as such: culture workers are not those ’who entertain us’ but those who remind us who we are, why we live, why we love, why we are still capable of dreaming. If in front of a 200 billion plan Italy puts only 3 billion on culture and tourism we are losing ourselves. President, do you have any idea how hotels, restaurants, art cities, operators are suffering?”

Renzi writes to Conte: let's accept the Mes and recover 9 billion for culture

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