Read the numerous articles and bills relating to replacement of the suppressed Institute for Foreign Trade put into circulation by too many "reformers" called together by the Government, by the more or less competent (and repentant) Ministries, as well as by the talkative trade union organizations of the Public Employment means returning to the de facto re-proposition of the dissolved Entity, its Statute, its articulations and operating modes.
The design that seems to have been made byHon. Calearo, delegate of the Presidency of the Council for exports, is the most precise photocopy of the old ICE, of its direct ministerial dependence (4 members out of 7 on the CDA of the so-called Agency), of the continuity of the public nature of its employees, of the regional articulation of its offices in Italy, of the relative lack of clarity to the integration with the Embassies abroad. The certainty of the obligatory dependence on public funding for management and the equally public funding for promotional activities continues to remain. The private role and commitments remain in the background as possibilities, options, generosity.
The very presence (minority) in the Board of Directors of Confindustria, of the Network and of the Association of Banks appears as a backlash to keep alive the obsolete consociational liturgies rather than a desired role of strategic co-responsibility.
Read to believe! Then compare the texts as they teach in Comparative Law.
At this point it is worth asking where did the challenging and reformatory words expressed several times by Emma Marcegaglia, the suggestions coming from all over the business world for a drastic and innovative decision by the Government on the matter, the action itself of the competent Ministry before shared and then defined by the same Minister as "a c..... a" with the relative dismissal of his Chief of Staff.
Yet the road of possible and useful reform could be covered in a clear and linear way.
1) Old Ice must continue to be suppressed for all intents and purposes with the consequent transfer to the Ministry of Economic Development of its personnel, properties and assets, assets and liabilities. Without this full reaffirmation of the legal prerequisite it will be completely impossible to close the onerous and often very long lease contracts relating to the foreign offices no longer considered strategic and therefore to be closed.
2) The local foreign staff (about 600 people) can be relieved or dismissed only in the face of the legal termination of the Institute, the entity that has signed the employment contracts. This is even more so for those, in large numbers, relating to naturalized personnel or even full-fledged Italian citizens.
3) The owned foreign offices (New York, Brussels, Warsaw) and the national ones (Headquarters and Palermo) they must be valued immediately in order to establish an autonomous financial basis for the vigilant Ministry to govern the costs of ex ICE personnel, their possible mobility and severance payments due to dismissed foreign personnel.
4) The business organizations and the most requested trade associations from foreign markets (mechanics, fashion, food, furniture) go involved in the future Agency or Company in a concrete way in their management through a substantial participation in the capital, thus guaranteeing for the development of promotion plans times and modalities opposite to those up to now governed by the bureaucracies of five or six Ministries.
5) Abroad it is necessary strengthen the logistical identity between the country's diplomatic missions and those of commercial promotion, giving the Ambassadors precise powers and tasks and clear objectives in terms of times and methods.
6) The Foundations now parked at Foreign Affairs (Japan and China) and the Japan Business Group, as well as all the activities financed by the public money of the Chambers of Commerce in Italy and abroad must be absolutely integrated within the Agency or the Company.
7) The promotional plan co-financed by the public and private actors it must be drawn up and approved in a short time, in any case such as to be able to manage the initiatives in all their effectiveness.
8) The necessary personnel must be selected on the market giving priority (in the selection) to the former ICE without automatisms or guarantees of any kind. The contractual novation gives the private sign of the employment relationship in Italy and abroad, ensures operational flexibility, provides for all the most effective and modern forms of performance.
9) The regional offices are not needed and should be suppressed.
10) In Rome, an institutional liaison delegation is enough while, in Milan, in the operational headquarters of the Stelline there are all the possibilities to respond to every logistical need. All the most important associations and product categories are based in Milan and the pulse of the market is certainly stronger than in Rome.
May Minister Romani and his new Deputy Minister appoint a person responsible for the "liquidation" within the Ministry of the old ICE. Urgently call the real export players to set up the agency or the company. Let the trade unions and businesses speak clearly to say that there will be no more illusions of Sportelli or Italian houses. Then, with the Farnesina, let them begin that commercial diplomacy that we increasingly need and need.
