The Government has announced a shut down of all productive activities considered not essential, except for health, food and strategic ones and essential services (i.e. pharmacy, public transport, bank, insurance, financial, post). In his FB-live, PM calls it as a slow down of Italian productive engine, impacting on activities not directly related to essential goods and services in order to contain movements and the contagion, but also welcoming the requests by Trade Unions and local Administrators. In fact, the more the emergency aggravates, the more it unveils the strains in the Italian decentralized institutional system. Different Regions, among which stand out Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna and Campania, expressed the will to apply different levels of security scrutiny, especially concerning freedom of movement and grocery stores' opening time. While Luca Zaia (League), Veneto, and Stefano Bonaccini (Dem), Emilia Romagna, closed the supermarkets on Sunday; Milan Mayor Beppe Sala have complete opposite visions on the issue, even if Lombardy Region has issued new restrictive measures for its citizens.

In her interview with Il Corriere della Sera, President of EU Commission, reassures Italians that the European Commission will do everything possible to help Italy, adding that with the suspension of the Stability Pact, Europe has made available to Italy a robust package that is completed by the new firepower announced by the ECB. However, we will have more details on the EU economic plans to tackle the COVID-19 emergency next Monday and Tuesday, when respectively there will be scheduled the Ecofin and the Eurozone Finance Ministers meetings. The reactions' to the EU efforts among Italian political leaders are divergent. While Meloni and Salvini, as mentioned yesterday, are still not satisfied with the EU financial pledges, Luigi Di Maio, Five Stars Movement, and Nicola Zingaretti, Secretary of the Democratic Party, openly praised the European institutions, especially for the suspension of the Stability Pact.

Concerning the healthcare emergency and the Italian economic recovery package, Salvini sharply criticized yesterday's provisions issued by the Healthcare Ministry, asking for a harsher stoppage of freedom of movement, and in general, attacking the incremental approach of the Government in the fight against COVID-19. As per the economic recovery package, Salvini relaunched the idea of a flat tax and he pushes for a no-tax year. In her interview with Quotidiano Nazionale, Meloni took a clear business stance: asking for a powerful sign to businesses, with a generalized reduction of the tax burden, by eliminating all the constraints and bureaucracy and by freeing up the job market.