A look, with a little nostalgia, at the past, but also the will to treasure the experience to look to the future with constructive confidence. This is the message that emerged in the meeting of recent days which saw the interventions in Bologna Romano Prodi, Piero Gnudi and Franco Mosconi, coordinated by Giancarlo Mazzuca, at the presentation of book by Lino Cardarelli “From Montedison to Baghdad” published by Guerini and curated by Gianfranco Fabi.
Lino Cardarelli's book
As Cardarelli himself explained, the book was born from his desire to leave his grandchildren testimony of his life, a life that began in a dignifiedly modest family in the popular district of Parma and which led him to the heads of major companies and large banks to then continue in the public sphere with the reorganization of the ministry of infrastructure, with responsibility for reconstruction in Iraq, with the launch of the first steps of the Union for the Mediterranean.
Many of these experiences, it has been observed, can be very useful for making young people understand the managerial logic, the passion for finding solutions, the need to understand the economic and political scenario in which businesses operate. Just as it is useful to reflect on the great changes, as well as the great missed opportunities, which have characterized the industrial history of Italy over the past fifty years. And maybe understand why a large and true multinational, like la Montedison, with avant-garde positions in the chemical industry, was first restored and with Cardarelli put in a position to compete at an international level, and then got lost in the interplay of private ambitions and public compromises.
From industrial policy to state aid and Pnrr
It is perhaps too late to find again a real and effective industrial policy as well as to systematize the great dynamism that small and medium-sized enterprises demonstrate. But it can't be too late to define themes, such as that of state aid, which are once again very topical in this phase in which the effects of the pandemic and of the Russian aggression against Ukraine add up with the repercussions in terms of energy prices and inflation.
Too often, it has been noted, what the ban on state aid has become an untouchable totem, but the strategies of the other major European countries should make us reflect on the real needs and opportunities of the Italian economy, albeit with a close link with European reality and rules.
Thus, the meeting was also an opportunity to discuss current issues, such as the implementation of projects that can be implemented thanks to European funding from the Pnrr. Also in this area, the difficulties of a complex system for defining and implementing small or large works have emerged, as well as for choosing what can effectively constitute a multiplier of economic activities. Difficulties, however, that can be overcome if the logic of seriousness and competence prevails as well as the general interest over local or particularistic temptations. And in this perspective, Cardarelli's book and his experience can be illuminating.
