The arrival of the infringement procedure must be prevented by all means for excessive debt proposed by the European Commission last June 5th . The last word will be up to the European Council which will meet next July. By that date, Italy must do everything possible to ensure that the economy and finance ministers of the member states put aside any type of sanction against our country. He asks forcefully Innocenzo Cipolletta, confirmed as president of Assonime for a second two-year period, as part of the Assembly of the Association that brings together the large Italian spas, held today, June 11, in Rome in the presence of the Minister of Economy, Giovanni Tria, and the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte.
ASSONIMS ON THE INFRINGEMENT PROCEDURE
Cipolletta used clear and direct words: "This is the time to take seriously the observations that come to us from Europe and, with due attention to the needs of Italians conduct a negotiation that stops the threat”. The commission's decision did not come as a surprise, “It was to be expected” comments the president of Assonime. The data, on the other hand, are irrefutable: in 2018 the Italian public debt rose to 132,2% of GDP and the estimates for the coming years are anything but positive: 133,7% in 2019, 135,2% in 2020.
“A turning point is needed”, underlined the number one of Assonime. To achieve it, the government must set aside electoral promises and slogans. “This is not the time for reductions in the tax deficit. Nor is it time for an increase in public spending, which indeed needs to be reduced”, – underlined the economist in his report.
Addressing the Minister of Economy and the Premier directly, Cipolletta – quoting the president of the ECB, Mario Draghi – declared: “Mr Minister, Mr President, we ask you to do 'whatever it takes' to ward off the threat of infringement proceedings".
CIPOLLETTA: "A STRUCTURAL IMPROVEMENT OF THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS IS NEEDED"
Despite the necessary attention to public finances, the Government has ample room for manoeuvre: “To support growth we need to carry out works that immediately have a concrete impact on economic recovery: from the rapid completion of the important infrastructural works already started or ready to go, to the interventions spread throughout the territory. It is not a question of choosing between small and large works: the country needs both”, declared the president.
During his speech, Cipolletta underlined the importance of implementing "a decisive and structural improvement in the public finances”, an action that passes through the reduction “of the weight of the public debt”. “Only in this way – he continued – will it be possible to reduce the spread and therefore the weight of interest, thus freeing up public resources that could benefit citizens. The opposite would be catastrophic".
“GIVE CERTAINTY TO BUSINESSES”
Assonime also carried out an analysis of the situation in which businesses have found themselves operating in the last 20-25 years. Italy stands out for its legislative production "too often aimed at correcting or canceling measures attributable to previous administrations". An attitude that “generates great uncertainty for businesses”, observed the president of the Association.
Speaking of the last government, there are three striking examples: the citizen's income launched "with excessive haste and, above all, without adequate preparation of the structures that will have to implement these measures", explains Cipolletta. But also the dignity decree, and quota 100, measures that “seem motivated more by the objective of oppose measures taken by other governments than that of giving a stable structure a relevant institutions for the life of the country".
The list is long. In the last 20/25 years the following have been implemented: 12 reforms of the justice system, 7 reforms for business crises, 7 reforms of the labor market, 5 reforms of the pension system, 9 reforms of the corporate taxation system.
“We do not deny the need for reforms in our country – admits Cipolletta – but most of the reforms that Italy needs do not require new regulatory interventions. The real challenge is to ensure the good management of the existing structures, the gradual but constant simplification of the institutions, a more stable legal framework".
Cipolletta also expressed his perplexities on the regulation of the company crisis and urged to explore "new possibilities for financing unlisted companies, channeling household savings to a greater extent".
“TWENTY-YEAR FASCIST ATTITUDES IN ITALY”
In our country “they are back exacerbated political tensions. Intolerance often prevails over the willingness to live in common“, says the president of Assonime. “Unfortunately, we get used to acts of racism and abuse, while slogans and attitudes from the darkest period of our country are dusted off: that of the twenty years of fascism that they thought they had definitively placed in history museums”, continued Cipolletta. “Let us make our own the exhortations of the Head of State Sergio Mattarella who said not long ago 'Attitudes of intolerance and aggression are noisily emerging', of closure to the needs of others. They are minority phenomena, which have always existed, but the hesitations that previously held back their manifestations seem to have diminished. Must prevent them from interconnecting internationally", he added.
TRIA AND CONTE: "DETERMINED TO AVOID THE PROCEDURE"
During his speech at the Assonime Assembly, the Minister of Economy, Giovanni Tria, responded to the words of President Cipolletta, guaranteeing in the light of the new estimates, that "public finance balances will be substantially lower, albeit with unchanged legislation, than those previously estimated and will consequently be consistent with the provisions of the preventive arm of the Pact of Stability and Growth”.
"The estimates provided by the Government are characterized by a high degree of prudence very appropriate in an economic framework of uncertainties", continued Tria, who tried to reassure Italy about the risk of receiving an infringement procedure by noting that "financial stability is an essential objective“. “The Government will continue to work to pursue a constructive dialogue with the commission. We are determined to achieve our objectives by adopting the appropriate initiatives where necessary to achieve them".
Words also confirmed by the Premier Conte: “We are determined to avoid an infringement procedure. A scenario that we must absolutely avoid”, declared the Premier, claiming that he is convinced of being able to do it “without encore maneuvers” which would be even more “harmful for the country”. “The Government's commitment is to agree with its European partners on a credible debt reduction path, in the name of social sustainability and without implementing recessive maneuvers, which would be in contradiction with the growth-relaunch agenda adopted since last year ”.
