The VAT increase must be defused, there is no possible negotiation. Carlo Sangalli asks it bluntly during the Confcommercio assembly. And the new Minister of Development and Labor as well as Vice President of the Council, Luigi di Maio reassures: "There will be no VAT increase and the safeguard clauses will be defused". "We care about keeping accounts" he assures but adds that " if we want to carry out economic projects, we have to negotiate with Europe the conditions that Italy can no longer support, even saying no”. And to the traders who, with Sangalli, invite the government to "defend incomes and protect purchasing power", he replies as follows: "The recipe for making companies that create jobs, development, new technologies take off in their growth is to leave them peace". There are already too many laws, says Di Maio addressing Parliament".
Confcommercio's annual meeting opened in Rome and the President of the Republic sent an eloquent message, addressed – it would seem – more to the new executive than to traders. “We need a strong common responsibility – wrote Sergio Mattarella – for consolidate the confidence of households, businesses and savers and investors, a necessary condition for stability, the protection of savings and the continuation of a favorable phase". The President reiterates the need to protect the savings of Italians, as required by article 47 of the Constitution. The same article called into question by the Head of State in the speech in which he announced the failure of attempts to form a government, explaining his No to Paolo Savona as economy minister.
Mattarella asks for “a shared commitment to promote entrepreneurship and development prospects with investments in infrastructure, innovation and training to make our system more competitive in the European context, in the reconfirmed sustainability of public finances". There is a recovery, underlined the President, but it must be consolidated or we risk destroying the efforts made so far.
Words received with interest and approval by those present at the meeting. Not surprisingly, the number one of Confcommercio, Carlo Sangalli, underlined the need to defend the income of Italians, avoiding theVAT increase. Speaking to the ministers present, Sangalli said: “They call them safeguard clauses. But, dear friends, the real safeguard for businesses and citizens is to defend their incomes, purchasing power and the widespread competitiveness of businesses”.
“For us the main road – he added – remains the income that comes from work. Decent work and fair wages. And here is the topic of minimum salary. In the clarity of relationships, we are concerned that this measure will end up dispersing a wealth of relationships and goals achieved. Our country's consolidated history of collective bargaining is at stake”.
Attention must therefore remain high, also because, in the first part of 2018 the Italian economy began to slow down, the confidence of businesses and households is declining, exports are starting to show signs of decline and growth at the end of 2018 should settle at 1,2% to slow down further to 1,1% in 2019. This can be read in the Tertiary Report of the Research Office of Confcommercio presented today, 7 June, to the Assembly. Investments also fell in 2018. In the "light of these evidences - underlines Confcommercio - the forecasts of the Def appear optimistic".
To these data must also be added retail sales which, according to Istat, in April decreased by 0,7% in value and 0,9% in volume compared to the previous month. “The cyclical downturn – explains Istat – is attributable to the sales of food goods, which recorded a drop of 1,9% in value and 2,4% in volume, while those of non-food goods increased slightly ( +0,2% by value and +0,1% by volume). Above all, the sharp drop compared to a year ago is worrying: on an annual basis, the decrease is 4,6% in value and 5,4% in volume, the worst figure in the last five years.
