There is strong concern for i gas prices, indeed it can be said that we are on red alert and that there is a need for the new government to act immediately. There is no more time to waste if you will save the industry which is the backbone of the Italian economy. From the president of the UI of Turin, Giorgio Marsiaj, to the president of Confindustria, Carlo Bonomi, there was only one invocation: “hurry up".
And yet, if we manage to overcome the current recessionary situation, the prospects for Italy in general and for Turin in particular are not so negative: if we manage to act in harmony between social partners and political parties, we will be able enhance your strengths of our country, above all in industry and high value-added services, and succeed in bridging the well-known structural weaknesses to achieve stable and lasting growth. And this would really be a goal that everyone should have an interest in pursuing after a stagnation that has lasted in our country for over twenty years, and the two crises, health and energy that we have gone through in the last period.
Energy alert: Intesa Sanpaolo ready to do its part
The managing director of Intesa Sanpaolo took this line, Charles Messina, who spoke remotely at the assembly of industrialists in Turin. Messina was clear: we must going through a serious crisis economic situation that will probably be outdated over the next three to four quarters. But Italian companies, which did well up until a couple of months ago and are still holding up even today against strong competitors such as Germany, are solid. The banks, starting with Intesa Sanpaolo, are ready to make them available to businesses new finance to help them to dilute the cost of energy and above all to avoid interrupting investments, especially those in new technologies on which the recovery will be based.
Sure, iThe Government must act on two levels. In the immediate future dab the price of energy, and on the longer term looking to remove obstacles existing today for those who want to do business, investing in training and reducing the tangle of bureaucratic practices that discourage potential Italian and foreign investors.
Bonomi, Confindustria: "If there is no European agreement, Italy must save the industry by offering energy at controlled prices"
As regards the price of energy both for businesses and for the most needy citizens, the president of Confindustria, Carlo Bonomi took a step forward from what he had said so far: “if you don't manage to have one common European policy, which is in any case serious for the future of the Union, then Italy too must safeguard its production system by offering energy up to a certain threshold at a controlled price. This will cost the state coffers approx 50 billion over the next year. Money to be found with a shrewd policy of cost reduction, and if this were not enough, also (and here is the novelty) with a breakthrough of the deficit.
Of course we must be careful - underlined Carlo Messina - not to fall into the same trap that the British government fell into when it announced tax cuts in deficit, but then the collapse of the pound forced him to backtrack. To keep the markets good, it would be a question of explaining that in this case it is a extraordinary support to the industry, and not of a permanent reduction of taxes, so much so that all the entrepreneurs underlined the impossibility of immediately honoring the electoral promises of the majority parties both as regards pensions and the flat tax. In addition, the State should quickly sell part of the public assets, especially buildings, e reduce the distribution of other subsidies, focusing on the expansion of loan guarantees that have a limited impact on the deficit.
Marsiaj (Industriali Torino): "A clear project for Italy and for Turin"
But the policy of buffering the energy crisis will be all the more effective the more it is accompanied by a clear long-term project that clarifies to all citizens and to the social partners where we want to go and what are the priorities to address.
On this the report of the president Marsiaj it was very clear and very detailed. They range from more general issues that concern the whole country such as school and training, infrastructure, the system of incentives which "must serve to produce efficiency, not to compensate for the lack thereof", to the rform of citizenship income, which confuses the just need to support those who cannot make it with relocation and training policies.
Finally Torino, which is by no means a sad city, as Montezemolo said in a recent interview, but which if it manages to enhance its excellence can remain one of the key places in the future of mobility. This will happen if all those who have decision-making responsibilities demonstrate a unity of intent to unlock works that have been standing still for twenty years, which are also essential for creating that positive context that can attract talent Worldwide. Think of the completion of the Tav or the City of Health.
But public authorities are not enough. Also businesses they have their responsibilities. And this consists first of all in continuing to invest, in aiming constantly and stubbornly at innovation, because only in this way will centers of excellence, you will become capable of designing, as well as producing, the machines of the future. It is then necessary to do grow the size of firms because little ones can't keep up with innovation.
The main problem is not lack of financial resources. It has been missing so far the political will to act, and to do it quickly. Perhaps today, in the midst of a serious energy crisis and when we have just emerged from a devastating pandemic, we will be able to establish that community of intent that is essential to resume growth comparable to that of our European neighbours.
