The presence of the state in the economy is expanding. One of the novelties of the August Decree is the possibility for the State to enter the capital of small and medium-sized enterprises with less than 250 employees that have "strategic relevance for the national interest" and that are in difficulty or risk ending up in foreign hands. Invitalia will represent the State in the SMEs and will do so by assuming temporary, minority and support shareholdings for private investors.
From now on, the State - directly or indirectly - will no longer be present only in Rai, Alitalia, Eni, Enel, Terna, Leonardo, Ferrovie dello Stato, Poste Italiane, Monte dei Paschi but also in small and medium-sized enterprises considered strategic, albeit without taking control. This is what Il Sole 24 Ore calls Covidalism, i.e. capitalism in times of Covid-19 in which the presence of the State at the expense of the market is expanding abnormally day after day.
In the face of an epochal emergency such as that of the pandemic, the expansion of the state in the economy is no longer a heresy but it cannot even surreptitiously become the rule. In the face of the 2007-8 financial crisis, it was no scandal that the state entered the banks even in the United States and Great Britain, leaving after a few years with good earnings. But there are some unavoidable conditions to fix and clarify:
1) who establishes and with what criteria whether an SME is strategic or not? Certainly a few technological assets cannot be enough to define a company as strategic: the risk is that everything is considered strategic and that precious resources are thus lost.
2) what role does the State play when it enters the capital of a small or medium-sized company? Does he intervene in management, beyond the facade insurance, or is he limited to a role of sleeping partner?
3) how is the time limit of public presence established in SMEs and until when can it last?
These are not marginal details but conditions that will qualify in one way or another the extension of the State's presence in SMEs and on which there can be no ambiguity
