Energy, ports, waste and even health care: the draft law on competition that the Draghi government should approve this week in the Council of Ministers, in time to meet the deadline agreed with Brussels as part of the National Recovery Plan, is expected to be broad and resilience (Pnrr). The reform of competition is part, together with the simplifications, of that package of “enabling” reforms to improve the context of economic activity and press for the restart of the economy. And, after having approved only one law in 2015 (and closed in 2017), Italy is now committed to approving one every year, with a detailed program of interventions.
The text is still being defined and drew various ideas from the Antitrust which, at the end of March, took up the invitation of the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, and indicated in a document all the points on which it was most urgent to intervene. Not all issues will be addressed immediately but a first index would have been composed and government sources assure that on several chapters general agreements have already been reached: the menu should include tenders for the concession of state-owned port areas, measures on concessions for the distribution of natural gas but also, in the field of energy, an intervention to liberalize the sale of electricity which is accompanied, however, by the protection of vulnerable customers.
Among the chapters that will also be addressed the acceleration for the installation of recharging columns for “green” cars. Another important item will concern the procedures for authorizations for waste disposal plants that will have “certain times”, which according to rumors should not exceed 15 days.
Ample space will also be given to the pharmaceutical sector, addressing the issue of distribution, but the discipline of bio-similar drugs and the reimbursement of equivalents should also be handled. News should also arrive for the criteria for choosing the medical management, such as the examining commissions that will be extra-regional.
This first draft law on competition should not address the issue of local public transport, while on the front of other local public services a delegation for the reorganization should arrive through an implementing decree to be issued within six months from the ok to the law, which could foresee the adoption of a single text.