Renzi's Bonus Cultura flop: only 6.3% of funds spent

Italy's Bonus Cultura, a 500-euro voucher for 18-year-olds introduced by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, has largely failed. As of January 17, 2017, only 18.5 million euros of the 290 million allocated had been spent—just 6.3%. The initiative required recipients to obtain digital ID, register on the 18App portal, and find participating cultural venues, a bureaucratic process that proved too cumbersome. The government extended the enrollment deadline from January 30 to June 30, 2017, hoping to boost uptake. By mid-January, 200,000 coupons had been used at physical stores and 350,000 online, totaling 6 million and 12.5 million euros respectively. La Stampa newspaper described the program as preparing youth for Italian bureaucracy rather than expanding cultural horizons.