Premier Matteo Renzi on Tuesday
presented a far-ranging national security plan in response to
the bloody November 13 Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris.
"We will allocate two billion euros to (...) law
enforcement and education - that's one billion for security, one
for cultural identity," the center-left premier said.
"For every extra euro invested in security, there must be
an extra euro invested in culture - Italy's response to terror
cannot be solely based on security".
The Paris attackers chose "common targets (...) symbols of
a generation that has only known peace and freedom. They imagine
terror, we will respond with culture," Renzi said.
The premier said "every cent will not be a cost but an
investment if we remember that we are investing in our
identity".
The premier said Italy will respect EU Stability and
Growth Pact rules, but that "the pact of humanity is worth more
than the stability pact".
As well, the premier said an 80-euro tax credit for the
lower income bracket will be extended to "all the women and men
working in law enforcement".
The 2016 budget will include 150 million euros for cyber
security and 50 million for better tools for law enforcement.
Another 500 million euros will be earmarked for what Renzi
called "an intervention" in the outlying districts of the
nation's major cities.
Those who say that the terrorist enemy is "outside" rather
than inside are the victims of a "mediocre delusion," the
premier said.
Accordingly, these outlying, impoverished urban areas must
be "rehabilitated" in a bid to prevent them from becoming
possible breeding grounds for fundamentalist resentment and
violence.
He said the urban rehabilitation projects "must be
presented by December 31 and spent in the 2017 solar year".
Renzi said the 2016 budget will also allocate 500 million
euros to defence spending in order to come up with "an immediate
response to strategic demands, not to routine or organisational
ones."
"We are proud of our troops and will never fail to give
them our support," Renzi said.
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