"We ask to open a discussion for a new industrial policy that allows this country a real growth perspective“. This is the appeal that the new president of Confindustria, George Squinzi, he launched today to the Government in his first report to the Industrial Assembly.
For Squinzi, the Government and Parliament "must act" on "four absolute emergencies": the public administration reform (“mother of all reforms”), the “PA debt payments", I"public spending cuts” to lower taxes and boost consumption, and the “business credit", because the liquidity restriction "is suffocating the productive fabric". Precisely on the credit front, Squinzi asked "the banks and the State for an additional effort".
The new leader of the industrialists underlined that "we need to work a lot" and "always have the obsession with growth“. So far, the stagnation of our country "has been determined above all by the difficulty of doing business": in the first place the "slowness" of the bureaucracy, but also the "very long" and "uncertain" times of justice, the "unbearable" tax burden and the "lack" of adequate infrastructure. All "ancient evils" of Italy.
COMPANIES: ABSOLUTELY AGAINST CO-MANAGEMENT
“We are absolutely opposed to any legal imposition of forms of co-management or codecision”, clarified Squinzi with reference to the hypothesis of workers' participation in company management.
“In four months of discussions with the social partners – he added – the government has never declared its intention to ask parliament for a delegation on the issues of so-called 'economic democracy', ie on the participation of workers in company management. Surprisingly we discover, among the amendments approved by the Senate, a provision that delegates the discipline on the matter to the government. On these issues I want to say clearly that we are absolutely against ”.
LABOR REFORM NOT CONVINCING, GO ON WITH SPENDING REVIEW AND PA PAYMENTS
If the pension reform has been "strict, but necessary", Squinzi believes that the one on the labor market "appears less useful to the competitiveness of the country and of businesses than we would have liked. It is a reform that modifies the system in several points, but in our opinion not always in a convincing way”.
On the public expenditure front, “we cannot be satisfied with a spending review that is only a good analysis of possible cuts – said the President of Confindustria -. We need a serious, determined, continuous commitment to reduce public spending. We need real cuts”.
As for the certification of company credits and the offsetting of debts registered in the register, "important measures have been taken", but "now we expect the State to really speed up payments, both for what concerns the previous debt and for that regarding new supplies. We can no longer accept that companies go bankrupt because they have to pay taxes for supplies made to the state and which the state has not paid. We cannot accept that the State even delays the refunds of VAT credits".
TAX INTOLERABLE BALLAST, DOWN TAXES ON EMPLOYMENT AND BUSINESS
According to Squinzi, the taxman in Italy represents an "intolerable ballast". For this reason “it is necessary to give a concrete perspective of reducing the tax burden on businesses and on labour. It's time to reverse course: there is an urgent need to reform the tax authorities”.
To be "efficient", a tax system "must be stable", but "in Italy the tax rules change every month", said the new president of the industrialists. The tax reform must be carried out "with care and attention, as we hope it will happen with the draft law for the reform of the tax system recently approved by the Government".
To lower taxes on businesses and work, Squinzi has a precise recipe: "The proceeds from the fight against tax evasion, which is sacrosanct, must be used to reduce the tax burden on those who produce wealth, ie on work and businesses." And, for this reason, "we say no to new levies or imaginative taxes that would only create uncertainty and distrust". Data in hand, the president of Confindustria recalled that, in 2011, the total tax rate, inclusive of all taxes and charges levied on a small business, "was 68,5% in Italy, against 52,8% in Sweden, 46,7% in Germany, 37,3% in the United Kingdom”.
CONTRACTS: UNIT NEEDED, IMPLEMENT AGREEMENT OF 28 JUNE
“Never before have companies needed a good system of industrial relations that allows them to work on shared projects under the banner of a strong unity of action – underlined Squinzi again -. It is essential to implement what we have shared with the trade unions in theinter-confederation agreement of 28 June 2011″, but “we must tell ourselves clearly that the rules are not enough. Cultural and behavioral deficits must be overcome”.
The president of Confindustria also insisted on company bargaining, which must be encouraged "where it is truly and closely connected with productivity and profitability", because "this remains the main way to generate value for companies and the people who work there" . All companies, therefore, "must have the possibility and the tools - he concluded - to have a tailor-made contractual suit".
REVIEW CONFINDUSTRIA STRUCTURE, BUT NO DISTURBS
For the new president, the structure of Confindustria, its operating mechanism and its articulations on the territory "must be reviewed" and "made more efficient and adapted to the times". A task to do “with balance, without upsetting a system that is necessary and has worked well. But we have to do it. A commission chaired by an entrepreneur I respect, Carlo Pesenti, will work on this. And I will commit myself, in the appropriate times and ways, by consulting and involving the entrepreneurial base".
