Although obscured by the Coronavirus, the race for the presidency of Confindustria it will mark a decisive turning point in what was for many years the most authoritative representation of industrial interests in the country. Let's start from the beginning. Last November, with the improvident decision of the Brescia Association to indicate its President Giuseppe Pasini "coldly", a candidate invented at the table was announced, demonstrating that the confederal presidency is no longer (for some time) a service and an honor, but an opportunity.
The silent little Roman hand had taken the field relying on the united Brescians, after years of ferocious divisions, on the name of Pasini for the sole purpose of prevent presumed wishful thinking of a renewed candidacy by Marco Bonometti. In truth, the initiative supported by Vincenzo Boccia and his central director Marcella Panucci had matured solely to divide the Lombards who had been determined for some time to fight for a candidacy aimed at ensuring a radical change in Confindustria. A candidacy identified by all in the president of Assolombarda Carlo Bonomi.
Unknowingly Giuseppe Pasini, driven by an all-home pronouncement and encouraged by some press articles solicited by interested promotion agencies, had lent himself to the maneuvers of Vincenzo Boccia and the associative bureaucracy, determined to dictate to them the times of the confrontation and the choice of succession . With the division of the Lombard front, the conservative strategy of confederal continuity was sought other applications, numerous and diverse, capable of dividing and further confusing the associates. So ahead a Reggio, then a Friulian, then again a wood industrialist, then a pissi pissi on alleged candidacies capable of displacing anyone like those of Felice Rocca or Guido Barilla. Indiscretions measured on the credibility of one morning, but useful in preparing the race for a friendly candidacy, appreciated by the top management of viale dell'Astronomia.
At the same time, it was necessary to "flush out" the silent operation of Assolombarda, trying to force it into missteps, even with the insistent provocation of the comparison of the business turnover of the two Lombard candidates. A little game for amateurs, because all the insiders know well that that of Giuseppe Pasini's Feralpi is in line with the turnover of other Italian steel companies and that of Carlo Bonomi's Synopo in medical instrumentation is comparable to a medium-sized company in the sector.
But all this grumbling served to buy time and warm up the muscles of the real candidate for Confindustria continuity: the Turinese Licia Mattioli, luxury company, always alongside Vincenzo Boccia as vice president. While Giuseppe Pasini deluded himself satisfied by the interviews, in Rome work was underway to guarantee the political consensus of the Palazzo for Mattioli's candidacy, capable of directing the vote of large publicly owned companies towards her and raking in the vote of some associations with the promise of a generous recognition in the positions within the system and in those even more desirable for the next public appointments. The message was clear: with our choice there will be no change in the system and that continuity of the Confindustria caste will be guaranteed for many years accustomed to sharing appointments, assignments, relationship opportunities and, if necessary, in addition, Knighthoods of Labour.
For weeks, the orchestrated leak of news on the numbers relating to the presumed consents, the support for the candidacies, the head-to-head between the competitors, has undergone treatment exclusively aimed at the construction of conditions useful for a central negotiation and a top-down mediation . It took the decisive and discreet work of the Sages, with the crystalline clarity of their minutes, to get rid of false numbers and delaying tactics, thus re-establishing the real weight of will and entrepreneurial choices.
Joseph Pasini, albeit late, in the light of the small number of consensuses collected, withdrew willingly with a letter addressed only to Brescia associates. He who wanted "a Confindustria capable of dictating the country's agenda" has placed in the attic (for the second time after Marco Bonometti's flop four years ago) the ambition to take back the story of Luigi Lucchini.
Licia Mattioli it is accredited by the Sages slightly above the minimum necessary for a possible ballot and, therefore, urgently invited, in turn, to abandon the race, avoiding a useless vote for the Assembly and a harbinger of further divisions.
A Carlo Bonomi favorable consents are accredited by a large 70 percent of the survey. At this point we all expected behavior and decisions in line with the best tradition of the House style. The industrious silence of Carlo Bonomi and the Caprera of Giuseppe Pasini were instead matched by the stubbornness of Mattioli, determined to go to the count anyway, and the pathetic exit of Vincenzo Boccia, which suggests a suitable postponement of the appointment by the shareholders' meeting to a date to be determined, leaving himself in the meantime the task of giving continuity to the presidency and above all of being at the table of three hundred public nominations. The Corona virus will be enough to freeze the situation and to distance as much as possible Bonomi's determined will to change Confindustria, its costs, the appointments reserved to themselves shortly before the deadlines for the associative offices, its liturgies, its rules, the his privileges, his caste?
Very clear and informed. How sad….