The fluctuating 1% of GDP that Italy allocates to Defense must, as is known, compare with the 2% that other European countries allocate to their respective armed forces. It is therefore a matter of satisfaction to take note of the ambitious study "Green barracks" promoted by the SME to give shape to a project that aims to renew an ancient infrastructure heritage and therefore not very functional and expensive to manage. The project will involve institutions interested in swaps and disposals of properties as well as the dual use of part of the army's infrastructure. The amalgamation and rationalization of existing barracks will allow, in particular, the opening to the civilian world of sports and recreational infrastructures, including nursery schools which have become indispensable in a military community in which one of the parents is periodically engaged in long-term missions to the abroad or in competition with the forces of Odine ("Safe roads"). Obviously, the time for the realization of the project in question, which examines 26 military sites, is conditioned by the limited amount of available rice, a condition which is seen with a critical spirit not only by the military but also by the growing percentage of citizens (the 72%) who express confidence / appreciation towards the armed forces.
It is significant to underline that the authoritative source of this statistical data, Eurispes, provides a substantial series of observations relating to the main national problems, thus allowing to extrapolate interesting deductions to be put in relation to the "Green Barracks" project.
First of all, it is surprising to compare the aforementioned 72% of confidence in the armed forces with the 26,3% expressed towards the national government, 25,4% for the Parliament, 49,3% for the judiciary and 54,9% for the Quirinal. But it is even more surprising to evaluate the economic aspects of some burdensome commitments to which the Government has given priority importance, such as the income of citizenship (around five billion euros for one million beneficiaries) and the costs associated with irregular or illegal immigration which say whatever you want (according to the Court of Auditors, 203 euros / per capita / day are spent, equal to 6000 euros / per capita / month, for an unknown number of the 500.000 individuals who are estimated to make up the pool of irregular immigrants).
It should be noted that 67,1% of the Eurispes sample declares themselves to be against citizenship income (often used as a cover for illegal work and sometimes as a smoke screen for criminal activities). It also emerges that significant percentages of the interviewees (perhaps mindful that a third of our prison population is made up of non-Italians) express distrust or hostility or fear towards irregular immigration.
It is reasonable to hypothesize that 72% of citizens who express confidence / appreciation towards the armed forces would prefer that more resources be allocated to the army-navy-air force, and less in favor of citizenship income and irregular immigration.
It cannot be excluded that the favorable attitude of the Italians towards the armed forces has intensified on the occasion of the recent Libyan political-military crisis and the "corona virus" health emergency. In the first case, in fact, the citizen realized that having credible armed forces is indispensable to have a weight in international contexts and crises. The prevaricatory attitude of Turkey and Algeria was significant, which in recent times have unilaterally decided to extend to their advantage the exclusive use of international waters in terms of fishing and research and exploitation of energy resources.
In the case of other emergencies, including health emergencies, it is essential to be able to count on an efficient and always available military tool to promptly face missions such as the one that the Air Force and the Army, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, are carrying out between Wuhan and the military citadel of Cecchignola.
It goes without saying that having credible armed forces does not want to postulate a potential or possible use of them but, on the contrary, as history and recent news teach, it is precisely this indispensable condition that exorcises the use of force.
From what has been said, two incontrovertible facts follow: the first, immediate, is that national politics is not in tune with the popular sentiment and the aspirations of the voter citizen. The second is that international events impose with ever greater evidence that Italy adapts the defense budget by aligning it with that of other European countries, why the red balance sheets are not reconciled not only with the green barracks but also with the security and defense of national economic interests.
Photo: US Army National Guard / Prime Minister's Office / Department of Defense
