In contrast to the trend in recent years, the state bureaucracy has started to stretch its tentacles again. In fact, in 2018, the overall balance of the administrative burdens introduced and eliminated with the regulatory acts approved by the individual ministries returned to being positive. By virtue of this outcome, the additional cost that Italian SMEs will have to bear this year to complete the new procedures required amounts to just over 36 million euros.
Although modest and still partial, this is an amount that increases the historic 31 billion which, according to the estimates of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, represent the administrative costs borne each year by Italian SMEs. To say it is the Studies Office of the CGIA of Mestre. Your coordinator, Paolo Zabeo, points out: "Although all politicians declare themselves in favor of easing the burden of administrative burdens on SMEs, these data show that cost increases, on the other hand, are on the rise, by the same admission of the ministries. The state bureaucracy, in essence, does not retreat, rather it returns to advance, helping to spread the inefficiencies and distortions of our public system which, we recall, has average levels of quality among the worst in Europe.".
In fact, from the results reported in the last survey promoted by the European Commission on the quality of Public Administration, it emerges that on 28 countries monitored, Italy is at the 23 ° place. A result that relegates us to the last positions of the general ranking: only Hungary, Croatia, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria show lower performance than ours.
Highlight the secretary of the CGIA, Renato Mason: "Although it is always wrong to generalize, also in light of the fact that in Italy we can count on points of excellence in health, research and law enforcement that have no equal in the rest of Europe, the average level of our public administration it is still unsatisfactory. Especially in the South, where the levels of quality and impartiality are insufficient, while corruption is perceived as a very widespread phenomenon and very difficult to contain".
Among the 192 regions of Europe monitored in this survey promoted by the European Commission, the first Italian territorial reality is Trentino Alto Adige which is in 118th place. Emilia Romagna follows at 127 °, Veneto at 128 ° and Lombardy at 131 °.
Badly, in particular, the score obtained by the regions of the South. In the last 10 positions of the general classification we note that 4 are occupied by realities of our South: in 183th place Basilicata, 186th Campania, 189th Abruzzo and Calabria at 190 °. The most virtuous region of Europe is the Finnish Åland, while the Bulgarian Severozapaden is the black jersey.
As the OECD also pointed out in the “Economic Report on Italy” (February 2017), the average labor productivity of our companies is higher in the territories where the public administration is more efficient. Conversely, where the efficiency of the public administration is lower, the performance of the latter negatively affects the productivity of the private sector. Furthermore, in this analysis, it is highlighted that the inefficiency of the public sector produces higher economic costs, especially for the small-sized companies. And it also emerged that shortening the time for civil justice and easing local regulations would have very positive repercussions on corporate performance.
The "Flash Eurobarometer 457" (December 2017) also took care of the sentiment of entrepreneurs on the complexity of administrative procedures that weigh on their activities. Among the 8 thousand European entrepreneurs interviewed, 84 per cent of Italians responded that excessive regulation is a big problem. Only in Greece (87 per cent), in Romania (86 per cent) and in France (85 per cent) was the problem superior to ours. Nothing to do, however, with the very low percentages emerged in Germany (51), Spain (49) and the United Kingdom (19). The average of the 28 countries of the European Union stood at 60 per cent: 24 fewer points than the average Italian data.
If Italian entrepreneurs report a decidedly insufficient level of satisfaction for the PA, the situation does not improve even when citizens are called upon to express themselves. According to the “Standard Eurobarometer 89” survey (March 2018), only 29 percent of the Italians interviewed consider public services provided by the state to be good. Only Bulgaria (28 per cent), Croatia (26 per cent) and Greece (14 per cent) have approval thresholds lower than ours. The EU-28 average is 53 per cent.
Therefore, what measures can be taken to improve the performance of our Public Administration?
First of all, the regulatory framework needs to be simplified. Try, where possible, not to overlap multiple levels of government on the same subject and, in particular, to speed up the response times of the Public Administration.
Specifically it is necessary:
- improve quality and reduce the number of laws, analyzing their impact more closely, especially on micro and small businesses;
- periodically monitor the effects of the new measures to be able to promptly introduce corrective measures;
- consolidate the computerization of the public administration, making the sites more accessible and the contents more accessible;
- to make public databases communicate with each other to avoid duplication of requests;
- allow users to fill in the applications exclusively via computer;
- proceed and complete the standardization of the forms;
- increase the professionalism of public employees through adequate and continuous training.