A ghost disturbs the sleep of the 182 members of the General Council of Confindustria is Thursday April 4 they will be called to vote for the new president of the association for the next four years. Is that of Antonio D'Amato which subverted all the predictions favorable to the Fiat manager Carlo Callieri, and in 2000 he was crowned president by a revolt of small entrepreneurs against what they believed to be the excessive power of big industry. A Grillina revolution before its time. The challenge today is between two candidates: Edward Garrone e Emanuele Orsini . The other candidates either withdrew from the race like Alberto Marenghi, or were excluded from the Saggi for not having reached the minimum quorum of supporters required by the Statute, like Antonio Gozzi. But in the end Garrone also retired and therefore Orsini will be the new President of the industrialists
Confindustria, the battle and the epochal changes
This time the battle appeared tougher than previous times. And the reason lies not so much in the personal contrasts between the candidates or in the rivalries and antipathies between the various associations that make up the vast parterre of Confindustria members. The fact is that this time the choices on the president concern the role that the business association wants to play in a very delicate phase of the evolution of the international and, consequently, Italian economic and industrial scenario. The changes to which our system is called are truly epochal: the technological revolution with the emergence of Artificial intelligence, the environmental challenge, the cracks in globalization induced above all by the wars that are surrounding the West from East to South to West. Europe and Italy, in particular, do not seem equipped to organize a response strategy to all those who want to change the rules of the system by bending them to the advantage of the new arrivals, first and foremost the China, and then the Russia, to get to the Brics passing through the Arab-Islamic world. And behind this struggle which is represented as a "struggle for liberation" from colonialism there is in reality the desire of China and Russia to undermine American hegemony and take its place with a clear intention of rebalancing the distribution of wealth.
Confindustria, bearer of the country's general interests
In its history, the Italian Confindustria has never been a trade union association in the strict sense. It did not only defend the interests of existing companies, it did not just lobby, but it acted as a bearer of general interests to promote the economic and civil development of the entire country. The first president of the association after the war, Angelo Costa, said clearly, during a general meeting of members, that Confindustria's task was essentially to protect the interests of future entrepreneurs, those who had not yet been born and therefore were not members of the association. In other words, the authority of Confindustria, its ability to resist attacks from the political world, was linked to the fact that industrialists became the bearers of the need to equip our system to have a good growth rate and therefore high levels of occupation.
The association has won some battles and lost many others. And yet if Italy is still an important industrial country today, some merit must also be recognized to the association in addition, obviously, to the great skills and spirit of adventure of our industrialists.
Today, as mentioned, we find ourselves at a new turning point, comparable to that of the post-war period. This may be why the battle for the presidency has involved political and business leaders who have nothing to do with the association. Bank Intesa is taking a close interest in the campaigns of the various candidates. The president of the Liguria region, John Toti, he hoped that Confindustria will have a strong president who is able to make his voice heard both towards the government in Rome and towards the Commission in Brussels. And this not only because it would also be good for the solidity of democratic institutions if intermediate associations, such as trade unions but also those of civil society, have the ability to interact with political power in order to bring about the best solution for everyone from frank dialectics. .
Confindustria, we need an authoritative president: here's why
Finally we need a authoritative president in order to be able to vigorously resume the cultural battle in a country that still struggles to recognize that industrial companies have a leading role not in technologies, but in modifying the culture of the territories in which they operate. Factory work is not among the first aspirations of young people. Many still seek jobs in the public sector, because it is considered risk-free. Big businesses are still looked at with suspicion today not only by citizens, but by the entire political class, without distinctions between right and left. And in fact today we no longer have large companies with their headquarters in Italy. You still see students marching in the streets against the vassalage of schools to industry, which has no bearing on reality. We still need to fight a battle to change the average culture of Italians, to make it clear that evaluation based on merit is not a rip-off and that it is actually much more transparent than the old recommendation method. In short, we need to carry out a work of cultural modernization in favor of progress and new technologies. An operation that must concern not only the mass of citizens, but also vast sectors of the ruling class who express opposition to any change. And this happens partly because they enjoy income positions (often minimal) and partly out of antipathy towards progress and aversion to risk.
A vast program, for which a strong, authoritative and cohesive Confindustria is needed, while still bringing back the many large companies that have left in recent years.
