The aim of this meeting was to debate the issues raised by a White Paper entitled “Living well in an active society: the future of the Italian welfare model”, recently published by the Italian Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Policies, and to focus specifically on the concerns facing young people in Italy today.
The meeting highlighted that radical global changes in the way work and welfare are interpreted have given rise to a need for a review of the Italian welfare model, which entails a revamp of Italy’s “material constitution” attracting broad support. This approach, aimed at ensuring the sustainability and effectiveness of social policies, should seek to guarantee that the supply of opportunities and the responsibility of individuals for their choices are both matched and balanced.
A new understanding of the concept of work has become necessary in light of a recently emerged set of individual rights requiring full and effective recognition, such as the right to lifelong learning and to empowerment, within a framework where the role of educational supply and the legal entitlements attaching to educational qualifications need to be reconsidered.
This entails a new era of participation – including, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, that of the intermediate bodies operating in Italian society as well as of the non-profit sector – in the implementation and advancement of social policies. It was observed that, regrettably, Italy’s current welfare landscape remains divided between areas of excellence and situations (such as in the health sector) marked by chronic underdevelopment, particularly in certain parts of southern Italy, where efficiency needs to be restored through the adoption of deterrence measures.
Given the uncertainty produced by the current economic and financial crisis, embarking on certain reforms of the Italian welfare model still remains problematic. The meeting concluded that, in the midst of this crisis, it is imperative that both employment and the production base of the country be protected, whilst maintaining a commitment towards responding to the major issues raised for public discussion by the White Paper. In this way, it will be possible to work towards a welfare system that “is both able to offer better prospects, especially to young people and women, who are currently held back by a stalled society incapable of making the most of all they have to offer, as well as to intervene in situations of isolation and exclusion, with a particular focus on the elderly and the differently abled”.