The Economics and Finance Document for the year 2019 was approved. With regard to the Defense sector, the Government intends to improve and make the sector more efficient, assigning high priority to the issue of security through an effective modern military instrument.
To adequately address the complexity of the rapid changes already underway, the Government intends to optimize and support the indispensable capabilities that the Armed Forces must have - as a necessary step to put the country in the best conditions to confront modern threats and security risks. It will be necessary to draw up a General National Security Strategy that can constitute that institutional cornerstone on which the Defense will be able to base its objectives and make sure that even Italy gets its first 'Grand Strategy'.
The Government remains strongly committed to making every effort to ensure the most effective and virtuous use of the funds allocated to the Defense, as well as to guarantee the levels of funding necessary for the modernization of the Armed Forces, in order to preserve and increase its operational capacities and gradually adapt , the dimension of our economic-financial effort to the commitments undertaken within NATO and the EU.
In particular, at the international level, we will continue to operate within the framework of traditionally anchored organizations and alliances for foreign projection, contributing to the interventions necessary for the protection of national interests, paying the utmost attention to the allocation of the relative resources, associated costs. In this context, cooperation will remain crucial, both in the framework of NATO's integrated common defense structure and in the context of the EU's Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP). Specifically, in the context of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), Italy intends to support and enhance the opportunities offered by the European Defense Fund (EDF), which provides funding for both technological research and for the development of strategic capabilities, as well as by the European Defense Industrial Development Program (EDIDP), aimed at supporting multilateral industrial cooperation projects between European companies in the defense sector.
Furthermore, notwithstanding the imperative need to ensure the defense of the country, of the Euro / Atlantic spaces and the contribution to the management of international crises - which represents the focus of the Defense - based on recent experiences and future trends, it is likely that yes will continue to witness a qualitative and quantitative increase in the activities carried out by the Armed Forces, connected to the performance of specific tasks in circumstances of public calamity and in other cases of extraordinary necessity and urgency, in support and in competition with the other State Administrations.
This trend requires the search for maximum synergy with all the actors concerned, in order to promote and consolidate the concept of Dual Systemic Use of the Armed Forces - that is' the preventive approach aimed at obtaining a military instrument that is able to better integrate with the civil component, for both military and non-military tasks, in support of the community and as a contribution to national resilience '- making systematic the positive effects deriving from the use of the skills and dual-use capabilities already available to the Defense. In this regard, the multipurpose-by-design paradigm, as a new process of development of military capabilities conceived not exclusively for military tasks, will constitute the main enabling factor of this new approach. The Government will also undertake to further promote policies for innovation and for scientific and technological research, with the contribution of the academic world, industry and the private sector. In particular, it will work to create and integrate advanced specialized skills in the industrial sector, through the formation of highly specialized competence centers made up of universities / research and industry (large and small-medium enterprises), in order to promote technology transfer and 'innovation in production processes, the adoption and diffusion of enabling technologies. In line with the country's defense, security and resilience needs, the adoption of the aforementioned multipurpose-by-design will therefore be encouraged. With regard to the cyber threat, a high risk factor for the country to be seized also as an investment opportunity, the Government intends to develop acquisition programs to access high-tech operational tools, in order to preserve the protection and resilience of the systems. and national strategic networks.
Likewise, in the area of energy security, efforts will be made to achieve high energy resilience capacities, to reduce consumption and needs as well as to produce and procure from eco-sustainable sources. With particular reference to sites of strategic value, the possibility of implementing smart energy districts (smart military districts) will be examined, in which the use of self-consumption is maximized and where the management of energy flows takes place in real time, in a riverbed sure of cyber security, in perfect symbiosis with the binomial cyber security - energy security.
In addition, efforts will have to continue to achieve a rationalization of the military infrastructure park, eliminating infrastructure that is no longer necessary and, where possible, combining those that perform similar functions and promoting a progressive and more balanced distribution throughout the national territory, with particular reference to in the South and to the areas of greatest staff recruitment. In this context, the solutions identified will have to privilege - in the process of analyzing the impacts - the financial and managerial elements by proceeding with the alienation or the enhancement of the real estate assets no longer necessary.
Maximum attention will then continue to be directed to the military and civilian personnel, which represents the fundamental resource of the Defense, continuing the action to safeguard health and protect safety, enhancing the condition and professionalism of all categories.
Moreover, in the face of the progressive aging of the civil and military personnel of the Defense, in addition to the release of the turn over, it remains central to proceed with new hires.
Finally, the culture of effectiveness, efficiency and resource savings will continue to be developed through the implementation of the most modern management control procedures.
