After a long period of stagnation that left the economy vulnerable when the financial crisis hit, Italy is undertaking broad-based and ambitious reforms to boost growth, taking advantage of synergies across policies. In the past, many good reform projects were not fully implemented, depriving the economy of their full benefits. The government istherefore focusing on changes in the political and institutional frameworks and judicial system to remove previous impediments to full implementation of reforms. The key challenges going forward are to make the economy more productive, more competitive, and more adaptable, thereby raising the living standards and well-being of all Italians. The immediate priority is to reform the labour market, where much rigidity prevents job creation and efficient matching of skills; the government intends to complete this task by mid-2015