Christmas with grandparents, Conte tries

The last battle is still that of the grandparents. Or, rather, about the possibility of renouncing the absolute prohibition of travel between Regions that will begin around Christmas, from December 21 to January 6. The government met today with the Regions and blocked all or almost all the requests of the governors, in the first place that of establishing a “white zone” with softer measures for territories with a low infection rate. The division into zones was also confirmed as of December 4, with Roberto Speranza who said he is confident that in the coming weeks the whole country will return to the yellow band, confirmed curfew, confirmed stop to the ski season, confirmed Travel ban during holidays, the main restrictions have been confirmed during the Christmas period, including the quarantine obligation for those returning from abroad.

But on how the measures should be rejected, what specifications they should provide, the construction site is still open, and the main issues could be solved at another summit with the heads of delegation that will take place in the evening. The government is still discussing possible exceptions to allow mobility during the Christmas period. Francesco Boccia, Dario Franceschini and Speranza himself are in favor of the hard line: no derogation. They have a piece of information in their hands: the one that photographs the 15 million Italians who moved during the last winter holidays, in 2019, before the pandemic broke out. It is difficult, if not impossible, to estimate how much of this volume of traffic went to the winter, to the spa or in any case to a few days of vacation, and how many were those who traveled in the direction of relatives, relatives or partners. “Maintaining the curfew at 10 pm for traffic and avoiding travel between regions are two central and essential points of the security model that we are building together,” explained the Regional Affairs Minister. Then he added: “We must avoid exceptions, because they could undermine the plant’s own tightness.”

This is Boccia’s line and the penalizers in the government, but there is still a lot of caution about the derogatory system at Palazzo Chigi, and they explain how the debate on this specific point “is still ongoing.” Giuseppe Conte is aware of the social and emotional relevance of a measure that would be very unpopular, although he knows that the exceptions must be few and well defined, an opening he also spoke about during the meeting with the majority group leaders, with whom he made the point in dpcm. According to the prime minister and those in the government who are softer on how Italy lives, one could think of the reunification of one or at most two first-degree relatives to the family unit (children who join their parents, in the example more simple) Apply the same rule for seniors who would otherwise vacation alone, while still evaluating the possibility of reaching second homes Conte, on the other hand, has a less harsh approach than some of his ministers. He also took stock of the school with the group’s leaders, explaining that a reopening from December 14 “would be a good sign.” A request for an opinion, rather than the communication of a decision, on which the Prime Minister explained that the Scientific Technical Committee must be heard first, which gathered an almost unanimous chorus of doubts and perplexities about the necessity and advisability of the move and about which the Democratic Party said it was against.

Once the curfew is confirmed at 10:00 p.m., another piece to be filed is the one that would like to extend the opening of stores until 9:00 p.m., limited to the first three weeks of December and, again for the same period, the reopening of shopping centers on weekends, a provision from which bars and restaurants will continue to be excluded, for which Italia viva has requested the possibility of opening for lunch on December 25 and 26. Discussion also about the proposal to close only the mountain hotels, a measure that found the perplexity of many in the majority and that the premier himself defined as “a problem” to be solved.

“We must avoid arriving in January in a complicated situation, that is why there will be greater restrictions on holidays,” explained Speranza, who did not define at today’s meeting a deadline for the effectiveness of the dpcm. A part of the government would like it to be valid until January 10, that is, the weekend following the Epiphany, but the Minister of Health would move the bar to 15, to have an extra week to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures. And it is not excluded that the special Christmas rules may enter a special decree law.

Tomorrow Speranza will go to Parliament to illustrate the decisions made, the details of which will be filed until the last moment. By the Thursday of the signing, as of December 4, the rules of engagement to fight Covid under the mistletoe will officially go into effect.