Spain, a labor lawyer: "Work and wages? They're doing better than in Italy because consistent reforms have been implemented."

The chaos of the Ceuta events and the political differences between the respective governments have sparked a confrontation between Spain and Italy. This is a useful opportunity to understand why the former is performing better than the latter. Employment and wages in Italy are worse than in Spain because our politicians have not yet decided to abandon the bad habit of using employment as a short-term electoral tool, pretending not to see that in the long run, it is the consistency and stability of an established path that delivers positive results for the community. And this is also why, in a context like the current one, talking about a minimum wage is another blunder for the streets: it is the system that needs to be restructured, and then coordinated with such a high-impact measure so that its true utility and positive effects can be appreciated. This is what Alessandro Paone, lawyer, labor lawyer, and founder of the Nius law firm, told Adnkronos/Labitalia.
 

And Paone emphasizes that, on the contrary, "in Spain, not without conflict, they have had the courage to make strong decisions and are reaping the benefits." "According to Carlo Cottarelli, Spain is ahead of us in at least five areas: lower taxes (37% for them, 42,9% for us), less bureaucracy, faster civil justice, cheaper energy, and finally, Ceuta aside, it enjoys a flow of immigrants from Latin America of people who share the same language, culture, and religion and who therefore integrate much better and more quickly into the social and working fabric," he says. 

"The Italian astonishment at such remarkable results is that they were achieved, with a consistency unknown to us, by the two administrations that succeeded one another in power over the last fifteen years, from different political persuasions (Rajoy, right-wing; Sanchez, left-wing). In Italy, in the same period, we have seen eight governments and seven prime ministers, each of whom interrupted the work of the previous one with opposing 'flagship' measures," the labor lawyer emphasizes. 

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Turning to technical aspects, "the Spanish employment situation," Paone emphasizes, "is more defined not only in terms of quantity—the number of employed people, especially among the youngest—but also in terms of quality, taking into account productivity and wage data, which clearly show Spain ahead." "Over the same fifteen-year period," he continues, "Spain has implemented four labor law reforms with a clear purpose, one consistent with the context and a defined political-industrial objective. In Italy, on the other hand, we have seen approximately forty-five primary legislative interventions and hundreds of implementing decrees, circulars, and emergency measures, making us the country," Paone reiterates, "with the highest level of labor law instability in Europe, not to mention jurisprudence."  

According to the expert, "the deeper one delves, the harder one hits the Spanish teaching on the centrality of coherence in political action and the value of government stability: in 2012, the right-wing Rajoy government enacted an initial labor reform, introducing more flexibility and reducing restrictions on dismissals." "These regulations," he adds, "in 2018, his successor, Sánchez, did not dismantle but rather integrated them, using a diversified regulatory approach of continuity, increasing the minimum wage (which has existed in Spain since 1980), strengthening permanent contracts, and modifying the rules of collective bargaining."  

According to Paone, "illustrating what happened in Italy is practically impossible, but it's enough to outline a series of lines: in 2012, there was the Fornero reform, in 2014 the Poletti decree on fixed-term contracts, then in 2015 the Renzi government passed the Jobs Act in an intelligent attempt to comprehensively reformulate the entire labor system. However, it was dismantled in 2017 by the Gentiloni government with the abolition of vouchers, then in 2018 by the Conte government's dignity decree, and finally by the Constitutional Court with a series of destructive measures, which highlight the inconsistency of a legal system rife with diversification and whose unity is not maintained by a comprehensive and systemic vision." "And over the last five years, the government has supported the employment push without reforming anything," he concludes.  

(Adnkronos)