“We need a great new pact for Italy”. With these words, President Carlo Bonomi's speech at the Confindustria assembly began, in the presence of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Bonomi presented the guidelines of the industrial world to restart the country, after years of economic stagnation and further tested by the Covid crisis. "The courage of the future" is the slogan of the assembly, chosen by Bonomi himself, which yesterday was received by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.
"The new productivity that Italy needs after 25 years of stagnation - said the president of Confindustria - must simultaneously consider innovation policies, training and advance knowledge, regulation to promote market efficiency, infrastructure enablers both physical (ie ICT, logistics and energy), and institutional (Pa, skills and synergistic organization) and structural interventions for social cohesion. It is on this broad concept of productivity that the actions and policies for the coming years must be concentrated, with the aim of maximizing the driving role of the development of the business and labor system and giving a new centrality to manufacturing".
The Bonomi government is asking for “a lofty and far-sighted vision. The government will now have to establish priorities to use, in a few years, over 200 billion that come to us from Europe; it is faced precisely with a choice of vision, rather than concrete measures. A basic vision that must scrutinize Italy's problems in depth, but look far ahead. Because not even 200 billion can solve them by giving everyone a drop”. “If you fail with the Recovery Fund in the few months now that separate us from the precise definition of the measures to be presented in Europe, it's not just her going home. Let's all go home ”, Bonomi said addressing Prime Minister Conte in the audience.
And it didn't fail to have your say also on the Mes: “In our enthusiasm for the 208 billion from Europe, and which are added to the SURE and the new EIB credit lines, the attention on the certain damage to the country if the Government renounces the Mes sanitary, without conditionality". “We don't want to become a Subsidistan – the president of Confindustria lashed out -. Adhering to the EU spirit means having a different vision of subsidies to support sectors in difficulty. During the lockdown, the government took measures to support the liquidity of companies and to refinance the SME fund. But subsidies are not forever, nor do we want to become a Subsidistan. A particular effort is needed on supply chains in difficulty. But not subsidies, nor further debt, albeit with a public guarantee".
Bonomi then intervened on some specific issues, from pensions to the tax wedge: “As Quota 100 runs out in a year, we don't need to imagine new pension schemes based on mere adjustments, as we read when we talk about Quota 101. As for the wedge, we don't know the details of the interventions the Government is working on. We have read of measures under study concerning personal income tax, a cut in deductions, and an intervention on the tax wedge which, however, would not reduce the share to be paid by companies. A further intervention should be the passage for almost 5 million self-employed people to monthly cash taxation, presented as a 'great simplification'. Having a vision means taking this proclaimed capacity of financial administration at its word and translating it into a powerful lever for many years to come”.
Finally, a dedication to the champion Alex Zanardi (from Brescia like Bonomi), taken as an example: “Italy needs difficult choices, but not impossible ones. Like the challenges faced and won by a great sportsman like Alex Zanardi".
After Bonomi Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte spoke, who claimed the management of the lockdown, sometimes considered to the detriment of the production system: “In Italy we immediately understood that it would have been impossible to address the problem of protecting the productive fabric while neglecting people's health. We have understood this ever since the workers refused to enter the factory, and we were not yet in the lockdown. We have grasped a fundamental principle: the economy cannot be protected without protecting the health and safety of citizens”. However, the premier accepted the invitation to a great pact for Italy: "It will be a great public-private pact".
