Generational Impact Assessment: a tool at the service of the younger generation

Therefore, I am happy to share some good news: Italy is finally equipping itself with a concrete tool to assess ex ante the impact of laws on the younger generation.

It is called Generational Impact Assessment (GIA), and it is one of the cornerstones of my 'Simplification' bill, already approved by the Senate and now before the House. Soon, once converted, it will become state law.

With the VIG, every bill presented by the government will be accompanied by a prior assessment of the effects it may have on citizens under the age of 35. This is not just a procedural innovation, but a cultural paradigm shift. It means bringing a new perspective into public decision-making: that of long time, of the future, of the generations to come.

It is a piece that is part of a broader design: that of a policy that finally chooses to build and not just manage and tackle structural transformations - social, economic and technological - without suffering them. It is the same spirit that also animates the reform of the premierate: to guarantee stable governments, capable of planning, deciding over the medium to long term and implementing far-reaching reforms.

Today more than ever - as the data on electoral abstentionism and the reports on youth intolerance expressing itself in a thousand declinations tell us - what is needed is a policy capable of restoring trust and prominence to young people. That trust in institutions that on the part of the new generations, unfortunately, is at an all-time low. Yet, we are not dealing with a passive generation. On the contrary, young Italians are educated, aware, active in civic networks, protagonists in digital and innovation, committed to environmental and social sustainability.

What they are asking, ever more forcefully, is to no longer be spectators, but interlocutors. To see their voice recognised in the public debate and policy formation. To be able to believe that there is a national strategy that concerns them, listens to them, orients them.

This is precisely the spirit of the VIG: to reduce the distance between decisions and the future, between the norm and those who will inherit it. Every law must answer a fundamental question: what impact will it have on future generations?

During its passage through the Senate, the measure was further strengthened with the introduction - welcomed by all political forces - of the gender equality impact assessment, testifying to a cross-party desire to make public policies fairer and more inclusive.

Many European countries have already introduced similar instruments. However, no one in Italy had yet thought of making it a systemic and structural obligation. Perhaps because its impact cannot be measured immediately. Or perhaps because courage, responsibility and vision are needed to sow today what will bear fruit tomorrow.

But this is precisely the politics we want to build. A politics that does not only look to consensus, but to credibility. One that does not chase the present, but finally puts itself at the service of the future.

Personally, I feel a strong responsibility to contribute to an institutional system that accompanies, guides and supports our young people. So that they have the tools to imagine a solid tomorrow, also - and above all - in their own land.

This is the highest duty of good politics: to think about the next generation, not the next election.

And today, finally, we started to do so.

Minister for Institutional Reforms and Regulatory Simplification