Ironically, the first day of summer of this very hot 2011 brings three Italys to the stage. There is the Italy of politics which, after the earthquake of local elections and referendums, is testing the state of health of the Berlusconi government with the vote of confidence in the Chambers on the maxi-amendment that absorbs the development decree and with the start of tired rituals of political verification.
Then there is the Italy of plots and intrigues that emerge from the investigation into the so-called P4 and from Luigi Bisignani's shadow network, whose interceptions fill the paper newspapers and await the verification of the judges. Fortunately, however, there is also another Italy which today occupies a front row seat and it is the Italy we like best, the Italy which wants to modernize the country and does so by putting forward a range of concrete reform proposals which, if implemented even to a small extent, would radically change the face of Italy itself.
This Italy is the one that this morning expresses itself - again due to a curious intertwining of fate - in the presentation of the Antitrust Authority's 2010 activity report by the president Antonio Catricalà and in the biennial assembly of Assonime with the report of the president Luigi Fir.
Catricalà, who is preparing to leave the Antitrust shortly, has not missed the opportunity not only to take stock of what has been done but above all to encourage the political class and the corporations to raise their gaze for once beyond of their nose and to advocate the resumption of a modern competition policy which, by itself, would be enough to modernize the country and above all to make it grow.
These days, as we have seen, with the neo-populist drift of the referendums on water, liberalizations are not fashionable, but it is time to launch a truth-operation in the country and to explain, on the basis of irrefutable data, how the economies that grow the most are those that liberalize with criteria and that the development of competition is an extraordinary opportunity especially for the most dynamic companies and for the weakest classes.
A real turning point then comes from Assonime. It is certainly a sign of the times and of the metamorphosis process that the best part of the ruling class is experiencing if the association of the major listed companies puts forward an organic proposal for a property tax on natural persons to create transparency but above all to collect – together with the reorganization and increase of VAT rates – the resources necessary to cut the Irpef and Ires. Not only that, but Assonime is also putting forward a precise and detailed proposal for public finance reform through the concrete and precise indication of selective spending cuts designed with a view to development.
One will retire later and a new tax will have to be paid on personal assets, but Paris is well worth a mass and the modernization of Italy, before the Greek syndrome overwhelms us, is not a gala dinner.
