An Email from an Italian Minister, Almost!

Well, it’s not exactly from Italy’s reform minded minister for Public Administration and Innovation, but the email address does say Renato Brunetta’s Staff.  Was not expecting this!

Bit like the days, many moons past, when I managed to get myself in a spot of bother with the staff of England’s then Minister for the Environment, the late Nicolas Ridley, but that’s another story.  Except this time, at least so far, I don’t seem to have got myself in trouble!  Not yet, at least!

The email I’ve literally just received concerns slacker-buster Renato Brunetta’s new book ‘Rivoluzione in corso’, which, in English, would be something like:  ‘Revolution in progress’.

The email also contained a link to the first chapter of Mr Brunetta’s book.  The reformer of Italy’s sludgy public sector, Renato Brunetta does appear to have at least two non-Italian fans.  One is media minnow, moi, and the other is a major league media mover and shaker, one Dennis Redmont.  Who, it just so happens, I know.  If Mr Redmont is Goliath, then I am David, only I’ve no intention of slinging stones at Dennis Redmont!

Sorry, I digress, as often happens.  What caught my eye was a few lines taken from the first chapter of Renato Brunetta’s book.  Here is part of what he says, which I have quickly put into English:

Read more

Brunetta’s Smiley Faces

Renato Brunetta, Italy’s Public Sector and Innovation Minister, has been innovating.

In an attempt to bring Italy’s, infamous for inefficiency, public sector to heel he’s come up with a darling little scheme which Italy’s citizens can use to register their approval or not of the performance of offices dealing directly with the public.

A series of touch screens are to be introduced into these offices.  On aforementioned touch screens will be three smiley faces, which Italian citizens can use to indicate their level of satisfaction with the service received.  Green Smiley face equals ‘all well and good’, yellow smiley face means ‘OK, but could do better’, whereas red smiley face indicates that the service provided by the office concerned was way below par.

This smiley face strategy is certainly original, and Brunetta himself has been speaking of a ‘little, big revolution’.  By the end of June, Italy will boast around 300 of these smiley face touch screens.  Some will even be found within Italy’s notoriously queue ridden post offices too.  Brunetta has stated that he wants people to be able to compare the performance of one office with another.  But will this touching scheme actually work? Read more

Why Is Italy Short of Cash?

On our way back from the mountains yesterday evening, we encountered more than a little traffic.  Licence plates from just about everywhere in northern Italy were all over the motorway.

Apparently back in 2008, around 65% of the cost of filling up in Italy goes into government coffers.  Quite a chunk, and that’s before all the taxes associated with running a car in Italy are taken into account.  On top of that, by far the fastest way to get anywhere in Italy is to use one of its networks of ‘autostrada’ – motorways if you are English, freeways or expressways, if you hail from the other side of the Atlantic.

You pay to use the motorways here, and the trip from Milan to Valle D’Aosta, for example, costs the thick end of 20 Euros.

The majority of Italy’s Autostrade network is under private ownership, with control of the publicly traded autostrada management company being in the hands of the well known Italian clothing dynasty, Benetton.

One assumes that motorway company pays taxes, so, again, on top of fuel taxes, the Italian government must be doing pretty well.  But it is not. Read more

Next Page »