In his press conference, PM Conte confirmed that the Government has decided to extend all the measures to limit individual activities and travel until April 13. It’s under consideration that the postponement of regional and administrative elections. According to Minister Federico D'Incà the vote will probably take place in autumn. Meanwhile, Giuseppe Conte is continuing with his diplomatic work through an interview with the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, which expressed the same points he stressed yesterday with the German tv ARD.

 

During the meeting between the Government and the center-right opposition, Matteo Salvini explained that there is still a widespread lack of masks and oxygen. Furthermore, Salvini asked on how has been possible that the Social Security (INPS) website crashed due to the high volume of online applications for the 600-euro recovery scheme. Among other points, Salvini highlighted that there are still uncertainty on the timing of disbursement of the Redundancy Fund and a lack of aid for those who cannot pay rent and bills. Meloni has reiterated the request to immediately credit 1.000 euros to the bank accounts of all Italians who need it. As per our sources, the Government is working on a 10-billions measure to help liquidity of autonomous workers and businesses, to be approved in the next Council of Ministers. Conte also ensures the Government's commitment to protect national strategic assets, remembering the Golden Power tool. Meanwhile, there has been today a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic (COPASIR) which has discussed on issues concerning the golden power.

 

At the European leve l, Ursula Von der Leyen proposed the initiative “SURE”, an EU-backed redundancy payments policy which foresees support for short-time work. The 100-billion support is guaranteed by all Member States and has been praised by PM Conte. According to Von der Leyen, it would be deployed in help of European strategic and hard-hit regions, such as Milan and Madrid. SURE will intervene when companies run out of orders and have less work due to the coronavirus. In the spare time, workers may be thought new skills. Moreover, the EU Commission will allow Italy and the other States to use the European Structural Funds not yet spent with the widest flexibility. Meanwhile, Klaus Regling, the general manager of the ESM, proposed a compromise on the use of ESM funds. Regling notes that it would be enough to be sure that the money is spent properly and that the ESM will be repaid one day. On the same page, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann stated that he is not in favor of the mutualisation of the eurozone debt through the issue of joint "coronabonds" and believes that the ESM rescue fund is a more appropriate. Nevertheless, during the Chamber of Deputies’ question time, Minister Roberto Gualtieri said that Italy is working on a concrete proposal for a common economic securities at EU level.