Last year on this occasion I dwelt on the urgent need to elevate educational attainment in our schools and universities. The drive for reform in this area must proceed and intensify. Physical infrastructure is a crucial factor in competitiveness. In the last twenty years the gap between Italy’s infrastructural endowment and that of the other leading EU countries has more than tripled.
As regards major public works, the failure to set long-term priorities has resulted in discontinuity and the dissipation of funds on a multitude of projects. The list of high-priority strategic infrastructures, originally 21, has now swollen to over 200.