Work and youth, two issues that Assolombarda sees as closely intertwined and must be supported, facilitated, developed to give support to the Lombard and national economy.
It is the fulcrum of the speech of the president of Assolombarda, Alessandro Spada, from the stage of the annual general assembly of the main territorial association of Confindustria which was held in Milan to coincide with theinauguration of Mind (Milan Innovation District). The new innovation district, unique in Europe in terms of size and regeneration model, was born from a public-private partnership between Arexpo and Lendlease with the aim of connecting the excellence of the territory to the best talents from all over the world, promoting the exchange between research and business.
During the Assembly, opened by greetings from Igor De Biasio, AD Arexpo, e Stefano Minini, Project Director Mind, also spoke Carlo Bonomi, president of Confindustria, Vittorio Colao, Minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition, Robert Metsol, President of the European Parliament, Attilio Fontana, President of the Lombardy Region, Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan.
The climate is decidedly different from that of last year, in which there was above all a desire for recovery after Covid. The current crisis and the issues that have not been resolved for some time create a more critical picture. «The duty of the times – Spada articulates – is not only that of better cope with the emergency. This is the last chance for make reforms looking to the new generations. Those who will have to pay the debts contracted with Next Generation Eu ".
While -due to the energy crisis- in Lombardy one out of 4 companies is at risk by July.
Concern for young people who will have to pay the current debt
“We must assume, as a ruling class, responsibility for choices. We owe it to the young people of our country" said Spada who sends a message to the institutions, to the union counterparts, to all the stakeholders: "there are Lombard entrepreneurs, Assolombarda is there, to rebuild trust and cohesion, to build together an innovative and sustainable development path and to offer a contribution to effectively implement the Pnrr".
Spada sees the future of young people: with the advent of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which is an unrepeatable opportunity to relaunch the country, we must also think responsibly about those 5,8 million young Italians who are between 15 and 24 today and who in 2058 will be between 51 and 60: they will be the ones to repay the debts we have contracted for this extraordinary effort. Of these young people, as many as one million are in Lombardy and 466.000 between Milan, Monza and Brianza, Lodi and Pavia. We must deliver to the new generations a new, more inclusive and rewarding world from a work point of view.
Assolombarda proposes solutions to unemployment and NEET instead of basic income
Italy, today, has the third highest unemployment rate in Europe: over 8,3% against an average of 6,8% in the Eurozone.
Furthermore, the 20% of girls and boys between 15 and 24 years does not study, does not work, does not train. Lombardy has a lower percentage of NEETs, equal to 17%, but it is still 165.000 young people who find themselves in total inactivity. This situation is intolerable because lives, talents and strengths are wasted.
Assolombarda's goal is to create work: experiments like the Basic income, that so far there is cost over 30 billion euros, have clearly demonstrated to to have failed. We must, on the other hand, abandon the logic of the subsidy as an end in itself and do everything necessary to attract young people into companies and prevent talent from fleeing abroad”.
Tax relief for young new hires for the first 5 years, the resources are there
And it is always with young people in mind that Spada also offers help from a fiscal point of view: “We need specific and more favorable taxation for young people. Our proposal is to apply to young new recruits a 5% tax for the first 5 years of working activity, extending to them the same model already applied to entrepreneurial and professional incomes of less than 65.000 euros.
Alternatively, we propose to apply the regime equivalent to that of the 'return of brains', which ensures natural persons who transfer their tax residence to Italy a 70% reduction in taxable income for 5 years.
It is certainly up to the institutions to identify the coverage, but we remember that for Italy, when the Global Minimum Tax, a higher annual revenue of 2,7 billion euros is expected”.
We also need to do more on projects jointly promoted by companies, universities and ITS. The project that we have proposed to the Municipality of Milan to give a single location to all the ITS of the city goes in the direction of a real Technology Academy: a hub that gives young people technical skills
Spada also urges the institutions to plan the first one together Virtual Special Economic Zone of the country, which allows you to experience the Program 'Work 4.0': a "laboratory" area in which to test a new form of work organization based on more efficient digital collaboration, focusing on training
Also “we have signed -a month ago- with local institutions and bodies a Pact for work. A paper promoted to lead Milan and Lombardy at the level of major European cities in terms of employment, job quality and talent growth. A Pact that we propose to extend to other cities as well: if Milan is a trailblazer, these actions should be extended to our entire territory, starting from Monza and Brianza, Lodi and Pavia.
We need to think of the new generations, those who in 2058 will finish paying the debts of the Next Generation EU".
New slowdown caused by the conflict: 2022 growth in Lombardy revised to 2,6% from 4%
More generally, Spada pauses to describe the slowdown of the economy within the current crisis. “The war in Ukraine is causing serious repercussions on the Italian economy due, above all, to further increases in energy and raw material prices. Added to these are the effects of the pandemic, inflation and the difficulty of value chains in reorganizing themselves. According to our estimates, Lombardy risks experiencing a reduction in growth from 4% to 2,6%. Reduced growth also affects the territories of Milan, Monza and Brianza, Lodi and Pavia. At a national level, what we are experiencing is the 'fourth crisis' in the last 14 years.
Due to the energy crisis, one in 4 companies is at risk between now and July
'The duty of the times', the theme of the Assembly, certainly means better cope with the emergency, but not only. is thelast chance to make reforms.
“The crisis in Ukraine has triggered a problem that has actually existed for some time: Italy has always lacked an energy policy. And to think that Milan was a pioneer on these issues: the first power plant in Europe was built in via Santa Radegonda; I am also thinking of the visionary Enrico Mattei, who 'designed' the country's energy policy from his headquarters in San Donato Milanese. It is therefore time for it to go back to fulfilling those strategic choices and to fully assume responsibility.
The energy problem particularly affects Lombardy, the heart of Italian industry and therefore with the highest energy consumption: over 25% of national electricity and around 20% of natural gas. Yet the single price is almost 5 times that of the beginning of 2020.
From here to July it is the production of one in four companies is at risk in the territory and within a year the production of more than half of the companies”.
It is therefore necessary to support these companies, given that the various energy decrees contain weak and insufficient measures
Concrete help would come from a ceiling on the price of gaswhile needed avoid supply rationing.
It is also necessary to increase, as soon as possible, the production of national gas to guarantee controlled prices for the most energy-intensive sectors and the ways and times of the ecological transition must be rethought, opening up to all energy sources, including nuclear power.
The 4 areas in which to act in the energy sector
Four guidelines have been identified: quickly develop new plants powered by renewable sources for self-consumption, favor the efficiency in terms of energy production processes to reduce energy needs and related emissions, also reducing the cost of energy expenditure, create energy communities capable of producing energy for themselves and other consumers in the neighbourhood, sharing environmental, economic and social benefits, focus on hydrogen: in this sense, we welcome the project announced by A2A to produce green hydrogen in Val Camonica by exploiting the energy of the Brescia waste-to-energy plant.
Abolish the IRAP: less taxes, more growth. “Action is also needed to reduce the tax wedge to the benefit of all workers. In Italy we always talk about the fact that wages are too low, but we never remember that ours is the country with one of the highest labor costs. The IRAP must then be definitively eliminated as part of a tax reform
