“Every man for himself and Frankfurt for everyone” cannot work. This is the warning launched by the president of Censis, Giuseppe de Rita, at the presentation of the 45th report on the socio-economic situation of Italy. In our country, citizens have tried to find individualistic solutions to the crisis, to continue living everyday life, but now the time has come to "making system" and aim for broader change.
In De Rita's opinion, there are 5 fundamental pillars from which Italy, no matter what is decided on Monday in Montecitorio or on the 8th and 9th in Brussels, will have to restart. These are the cornerstones of our economy at the basis of the Censis recipe for growth.
1) REAL ECONOMY – “It has been 10 years that we have only talked about finance, manoeuvres, cuts and pensions. […] But with finance there is no development.” We need to go back to focusing on the real economy. And not only on the manufacturing sector and on Made in Italy which are also fundamental (imports grew by 16% in the first half) but focusing above all on the tertiary sector, the sector which produces 75% of Italian wealth but which is also the most affected from the underground economy. Furthermore, as the director general of the social investment study centre, Giuseppe Roma underlines, “the recipe must be sectoral and Italy must grow geographically”. We must aim atinternationalization. “There are gems from countries, which are growing at 3-4%, such as Turkey and Poland, which are 2 hours away by plane” and our contribution to their imports is still too low.
2) LONG TERM – “We need to go back to thinking about the long term”, underlines de Rita. “We are in a society that thrives on events and moments, which suffers from speeding up public decision-making times“. You can't live with the anxiety of making quick decisions without keeping the kaleidoscopic goal for the future in front of your eyes. This discourse includes the data on consumption, which has remained almost unchanged in recent years but only thanks to the fact that the savings have been affected. The propensity to save has decreased from 20% to 11% in the last 10 years. But this mechanism is not sustainable in the long term.
3) POTENTIAL CONFLICT – “We are a country of multiple identities,” said Giuseppe Roma. However, the data in the report does not show a fragmented Italy according to young/elderly or north/south stereotypes but rather a 46% of Italians who feel tied to the nation, 15% who instead feel global and 31% localists ( scattered between the northeast and the south). And Rome comments: “We don't need federalism but the federator“, able to bring together these different orientations. Yet according to de Rita there is a conflict that is still in the shadows and that could explode. It is that of a populist nationalism, reminiscent of Argentine Peronism. Only an exit from the crisis based on these 5 pillars would allow us to leave this lurking enemy aside.
4) ATTENTION TO THE NEW RELATIONAL FORMATS – The dimension of human relationships has grown, from spiritual groups to social networks (over 16 million users on Facebook and over 6 million on Skype). The family, one of Italy's virtues, is changing its morphology, at a demographic and behavioral level. Social cohesion must therefore be rethought and revalued.
5) VALUE OF REPRESENTATION – “We have arrived at the death of political representation: the Parliament, the parties, the regional and municipal councils are dead”, declares de Rita. We need to rebuild a form through which the rights and needs of citizens reach politics, without falling into that "vulgar nationalism" of which we can already glimpse the signs.
59% of Italians admit that they are willing to make sacrifices and give up part of their well-being for a coordinated and shared development to revive the country. This is the message of hope launched by Censis. That the political representatives make it their own and, through these 5 pillars, begin to promote a development program for a more prosperous Italy.
