Italy bet big on the green pass. Has it paid off?
By Giorgia Orlandi, Euronews Rome Correspondent
Being the first country in Europe to make the health pass mandatory in all workplaces – public and private – has come with consequences for Italy. Weeks of popular unrest that followed the move is one of them. And yet, the social tensions – and even fears of a fascist revival – have not ground the nation to a halt.
Ever since Italy became the first EU country to lock down, street protests have not ceased to exist. But lately, the anti-health pass movement has been more active on social media platforms than it has been in public squares.
Following a violent riot in October, the government decided to take a harder stance on the issue, mindful of having a majority of Italians backing the move. No matter how strong the anti-pass front grows, over 60% of citizens agree with the extension of the policy in the workplace. A good share of business owners have welcomed the decision to avoid more restrictive measures.
Not one but two prime ministers have had to steer the country at the height of the Covid crisis. In both cases, the strictest measures were enforced. The introduction of the health pass, the so-called “green pass”, nearly everywhere is the brainchild of former ECB President Mario Draghi. But before him, Giuseppe Conte pioneered a colour-tiered system as a way to contain the spread of the virus.
Italy’s strategy has raised a few eyebrows in Europe for its decision to choose coercive rules over incentives to encourage people to get vaccinated. So why have the majority of Italians decided to comply with the green pass rule?
According to Massimiliano Panarari, a sociology professor at Mercatorum University in Rome, Italians have been traumatised by the lockdown experience and refuse to go down that path again. Panarari believes the green pass policy should be seen as a “nudge tool” to return to a normal life and has been widely embraced by Italians to prevent restrictions.
The government’s aggressive response to the pandemic has triggered the reaction of the country’s far-right, which has become more powerful since the 2018 general election. Unlike what we saw when Italians took to the streets after the first nationwide lockdown, the introduction and gradual expansion of the health pass has opened up a new front.
While the protest movement distanced itself from the fringe no-vax mass, authorities have become increasingly concerned about infiltrations by fascist-affiliated groups, such as Forza Nuova, who are capitalising on the unrest. These are the same people who stormed the headquarters of Italy’s national trade union and attempted to reach the Prime Minister’s office last October. The Italian police recently raided the homes of over ten activists alleged to have used a chat on the Telegram app to call for violence, with explicit references to “hangings”, “shootings” and “terrorism”.
As the fourth wave is approaching, questions are being raised in the political arena whether Italy should follow the example of Austria and the Netherlands, where new drastic restrictions have been implemented.
Italy is not immune to the rise of coronavirus cases, but the government is confident the spread of the virus is under control and the overall scenario is much more reassuring than elsewhere. For now, Draghi has ruled out the introduction of new measures at a national scale, even if some regions are already experiencing a sharp rise in infections.
As Professor Panarari points out, Trentino-Alto Adige is the region with both the lowest number of fully vaccinated people and the fastest growth of new cases. In his view, cultural ties with countries such as Austria, right beyond the Alps, might explain the increase in infection numbers. But the situation also shows, Panarari notes, that the only way to prevent a fresh lockdown is to boost inoculations.
Whether or not the Italian government will move to slap anti-vaxxers with more restrictive measures following Austria’s example is too early to say. There is a fine line between coercive and incentive rules and the risk of overstepping the line is real. After betting so much on the green pass to avoid new lockdowns, finding the right strategy to tackle vaccine hesitancy could prove to be the game changer.
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