The new boundaries of European economic sovereignty

Global public debt is at an all-time high. How can we keep it under control? Public debt around the world has reached unprecedented levels. Managing it requires the skill of a tightrope walker. Excessive debt can become explosive, pushing a country to the brink of collapse, as history has shown us. On the other hand, rigidly adhering to balanced budgets, as Germany did for too long, or abruptly increasing taxes and cutting expenditures to reduce debt can drive a country into recession. A better approach is to aim for a gradual reduction of debt while considering that in the coming years, more resources will need to be allocated to environmental protection and healthcare, and many countries will increase defense spending. What we absolutely must avoid is borrowing blindly, without a clear plan for spending the funds, as happened with the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr).

A More Inclusive Education System to Prevent the Waste of Human Capital in Italy Italy is facing a tremendous waste of human capital. Hundreds of thousands of well-educated young people struggle to find jobs, and when they do, they often end up in roles that have little to do with the skills they spent years acquiring through their studies. This is a loss we can no longer afford. Each year, about 100,000 people leave our workforce. Four years ago, only one in twenty companies reported staffing shortages; today, nearly one in two can’t fill vacant positions. To address this waste, we need to start with early childhood education, improve the quality of schools by valuing teachers’ work, and establish vocational pathways in higher education. Unfortunately, we are missing the opportunity presented by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr) to tackle these deep-rooted problems in Italy’s education system.