News Analysis: Time needed to see changes brought about by Renzi's reform

The cabinet of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi last week approved the so-called "Buona Scuola" (Good School) package, an educational initiative that is the latest in a long line of reforms during Renzi's 13-month government. But so far, the prime minister's aggressive changes have had a limited impact on the country's moribund economy.

The Buona Scuola initiative is not intended to have a direct impact on the economy, but neither are the political, electoral, or administrative reforms Renzi has championed.

The question now is: how long can Renzi go forward without an improvement in Italy's economic conditions?

"The main things people want are lower taxes and more jobs," Pietro Vento, director of the Italian polling institute, Demopolis, said in an interview. "I think the expectations are that there will be a mild economic recovery in the coming months. But it won't be enough to improve the situation for the average Italian."

Vento and others say it will take time for the changes Renzi has made since taking office to help turn the economy around. But critics note that other troubled European countries, most notably Spain, have managed to get onto a growth trajectory while Italy lags behind.

Most of Renzi's reforms have been aimed at improving the Italian economy under the hood -- such as reducing government spending, increasing political stability, improving competitiveness, or cutting down on bureaucracy -- and not specifically at sparking growth.

The Buona Scuola package, for example, seeks to add new teaching positions via public-private partnerships and to start English-language education earlier and more effectively. In Italy, 62 percent of adults speak only their native language, a higher level than any other European Union country aside from Britain and Ireland, where English is the native language.

Students have protested the involvement of the private sector in the education system, saying it could lower the quality of education. And while experts are mixed on the value of Renzi's reform, all acknowledge that even an effective educational reform will pay dividends after decades.

Even changes aimed at sparking growth will take time to blossom, experts said.

Italy's Jobs Act, for example, is designed to gradually ramp up hiring, and a labor reform from last year designed to give employers more flexibility in hiring workers has so far failed to move the unemployment needle much. And even if a year-old plan to give low and middle income Italian workers an extra 80 euros (84.74 U.S. dollars) per month has been welcomed by those receiving the cash, it has had a limited impact on consumer demand.

"We have to be patient; it's still early," Vento said. "If we are having the same conversation a year from now, then there will be reason for worry. But not yet."

Cesare Imbriani, a political economics professor at La Sapienza University in Rome, said in an interview the biggest thing is to start to see results in terms of economic growth.

"The Renzi government has to show it is a government of acts, and not just announcements," Imbriani said. But he added that expectations have to be kept in check as well.

"Italy has a mature economy and the best-case scenario is for moderate growth," Imbriani said. "Italy will not grow like the fast-growing economies in China and elsewhere. That already happened in the 1950s and 1960s." Enditem