Istalia

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Two years of the second Saragat government

Tax reform, AI, universities and strategic resources at the center of the executive agenda

ROMULA - With a series of ambitious and highly structural measures, the second government led by Annalisa Saragat continues its work of reforming the Istalian social economic landscape.

The fulcrum of the executive action was the highly progressive tax reform approved in recent weeks, which aims at a more equitable redistribution of national resources: the additional revenues will be used to finance social and cultural programs, among which the new National Fund for Education and Research stands out, strongly supported by Minister Secretary of State Saragat. The fund aims to guarantee stable and significant funding to Istalian universities, with the declared goal of transforming them into centers of excellence recognized globally.
"We want our universities to become globally recognized beacons of knowledge" the Minister Secretary of State said during the announcement, emphasizing how the fund will guarantee stable and significant resources to Istalian universities, promoting excellent research.

The government is also looking to the future with the Framework law on new information technologies and artificial intelligence, which aims to reconcile development and innovation with ethics and regulation. In addition to creating a favorable framework for investments, with the stated goal of making Istalia an international hub for innovation and AI research, the law provides for the experimental introduction of courses on AI and IT in middle and high schools, with the aim of extending them to the entire school system within three years, to form critical awareness and skills in the use of emerging technologies from the younger generations.

At the same time, new funds were allocated to AISA, the Istalian Authority for Space and Aeronautics, with the initial objective of fully reconstituting the national civil and military satellite network, in cooperation with the DIRSAD, the Department of Defense for Research and Development, to ensure the country has a proprietary constellation of satellites to strengthen communication, observation and defense capabilities. However, the funds also covered scientific research and therefore the development of preliminary plans and mission proposals for future space exploration.

Finally, with the establishment of SNPE - National Prospecting and Extraction Company and the launch of the National Plan for the Enhancement of Strategic Suitable Areas, the government has reactivated an ambitious program that had been left in the drawers since the second Monaldi executive. The objective is clear: to identify and exploit mineral resources on the national territory, reducing dependence on foreign strategic raw materials for the most advanced technological and industrial sectors.
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Launched the “Folgore”, first of twelve new flagship units for the Imperial Navy

The new class of destroyers will form the backbone of the Navy alongside the Auduce-class frigates

TEREBBIA - At the historic AUDISS Leonardi facilities in Terrebbìa, in the presence of the highest civil and military authorities, the Folgore ship was officially launched, the first example of the new generation of missile destroyers of the Istalian Imperial Navy. The unit, designed to dominate the airspace in modern warfare scenarios, to operate in high-intensity contexts and in multi-domain scenarios, represents a further step in the ambitious program of Istalian naval enhancement.

The Folgore is the leader of a new class of twelve naval units that will be launched in three series within the next decade. Each vessel will be optimized for wide-area anti-aircraft warfare operations, with cutting-edge technologies designed to reduce radar, acoustic and infrared traceability, making the ship an extremely discreet platform.

The heart of the weapon system is a vertical launcher for 48 surface-to-air missiles, with provision for an additional 16. To complete the arsenal, 3 OTO Al-Mehara 72mm/62 naval guns, 2 25mm/80 guns and 8 anti-ship missiles launching systems. The electronic system includes EWS electronic warfare, anti-torpedo countermeasures, two torpedo launchers with 24 torpedoes stored, medium frequency sonar and a sophisticated radar system@ and multispectral sensors. It will carry a medium-lift anti-submarine warfare helicopter.

According to the Minister of Defense Division General Nando Artemisi:

The Folgore and the ships of its class will redefine Istalian maritime capability for decades to come, ensuring readiness, protection and projection in every theater of operations.

Istalia explores its subsoil

The great undertaking of the SNPE and the National Plan for the Enhancement of Strategic Suitable Areas begins

ROMULA - The largest mineral prospecting campaign in the history of Istalia has officially begun. With the operation of the SNPE - National Prospecting and Extraction Company, Istalia intends to precisely map and analyze the areas of its territory.

The project, called the National Plan for the Enhancement of Strategic Suitable Areas, was originally outlined during the second Monaldi government but was left on hold due to political contingencies. The current Saragat executive has decided to relaunch it forcefully, entrusting the newly formed SNPE with the mission pursuing a clear objective: to map and evaluate the mineral potential of Istalia's soil, with particular attention to the areas historically linked to mining activity. The SNPE will be responsible for conducting detailed geological analyses and proposing plans for economically sustainable and strategically useful extraction of any useful raw materials to be submitted to Parliament for approval. These raw materials are now essential for the high-tech industry on which Istalia has placed so much emphasis during the post-war reconstruction: rare earths, strategic metals, silicon and other essential components for microchips, electronics and precision mechanics.

Although the country has already consolidated secure supply channels at an international level, the government now aims to reduce structural dependence. The Minister of Economy, National Industry and Trade Gianluca Gori, told the press:

It is a question of technological and economic sovereignty. Technological independence also passes through the subsoil and we do not want and cannot depend totally on external suppliers for essential raw materials.

About this new endevour undertaken by the Government, Minister Secretary of State Saragat announed her plan to scorporate from the Ministry of Economy, National Industry and Trade the responsabilities on mineral resources and energy, with the creation of the Ministry of Strategic Resources and Susteinable Energy already this year, ministry which Minister Gori hopes to be appointed to head.

“Who represents whom?”: protests against the electoral system and the crisis of representation in Istalia

Minister Secretary of State Saragat opts for dialogue supported by the Emperor who underlines the right of citizens to express their ideas

ROMULA — The squares of Istalia are filling up again. Sit-ins, flash mobs, silent marches and student demonstrations have been following one another uninterruptedly for two years now, in what many observers are beginning to define as the largest protest movement in post-war Istalia. At the heart of the discontent is an issue that touches the very foundations of the democratic system: political representation.

The fuse was lit by the results of the last elections and the protests mainly targeted the instant-runoff majoritarian system, chosen at the time to guarantee greater stability and governability. But according to many, especially among the extra-parliamentary movements and political formations excluded from Parliament, the cost of this stability was too high: the systematic exclusion of small formations and alternative voices from the institutional debate.

The leaders of the Voci dal Basso movement, which arose spontaneously in universities, denounce:

It’s no longer democracy, it’s legal oligarchy! Public opinion is manipulated by the mainstream media and the dominant parties, while public institutions, including the Armed Forces, reflect only those few political orientation.

The criticisms become even stronger among the most radical positions if we consider that, by law, 25% of parliamentary seats are reserved for the Armed Forces, in a system that the demonstrators define as constitutionally ambiguous. The mix of political power and military apparatus raises growing concerns among the most radicals who, today more than ever, are calling for a return to full civilian representative democracy.

However, the young people are the beating heart of the demonstrations: mobilized around cross-cutting issues, such as social justice and the climate crisis, they forcefully demand that the environment return to the center of the political agenda. From the university-based ecologist collective "Futuro da Tutelare" came a strong appeal to the politics:

Now that the country is being rebuilt, we have the opportunity to make different choices than in the past. Today new technologies offer us alternative politics for a sustainable economic and industrial system. But our voices should be represented too, we don't want to be limited to appeals and awareness campaigns that the politics too often ignore.

A voice out of tune in the parliamentary panorama is that of the Party of New Communists. After last year’s National Congress, the radical wing led by Armando Testa took the reins of the party, openly siding it with the extra-parliamentary movements. Testa defined the current system as "an electoral cage at the service of the elite" and relaunched the proposal to return to a proportional system, the only way, according to him, for true democratic representation.

The reactions of the other parties into the parliament have been diverse: Minister Secretary of State Annalisa Saragat has adopted a conciliatory approach, initiating a series of meetings with representatives of the protest movements for months. The Head of Government has repeatedly declared that the her Istalia must be based on dialogue and not on imposition. But this position is not shared by everyone within the Socialist Democratic Party: a significant fringe fears that a proportional reform could weaken the party, the vote for the PSD dispersed in a constellation of left-leaning political groups.

The reaction of Valeriano Giunio, leader of the National Liberal Party, was instead very harsh, calling the protesters as troublemakers, time-wasters and nostalgic for the Socialist Republic. The PNL has made the majoritarian electoral system one of the cornerstones of its political strategy, aiming to return to power thanks to the centralization of consensus. Giunio hopes for the evolution towards a bipolar political system, which, in his opinion, would guarantee solid governments, coherent programs and institutional stability.

The Hosian Democratic Union has also split internally. While the majority of the party fears that proportional representation would fragment its consensus, a growing minority believes that such a system could favor centrists, making them indispensable in government coalitions and increasing their negotiating weight.

The protests, while remaining in almost all cases peaceful, were not without tensions. In particular, the case of the protester stabbed by a former navy commando during a demonstration in Sira aroused great indignation. The episode prompted the Emperor to intervene publicly: in a televised speech to the nation, he firmly condemned all forms of violence, reaffirming the right to protest as a pillar of democracy:

The new Istalia must demonstrate every day that it is not the old regime. Dissent, if expressed peacefully, is one of the highest expressions of freedom.