With the harsh frontal attack on Minister Saccomanni, described as not very courageous or even "inadequate", the Pdl is pushing the tone of its electoral flavored controversy, up to a limit from which it will become difficult to go back. According to Santanchè, Brunetta, and now also Cicchitto, the cancellation of the Imu on the first house and the elimination ofVAT increase they are essential for relaunching the Italian economy and above all they are politically indispensable to allow the PDL to be able to show off the fulfillment of a promise made to its electorate.
But while from a political point of view there is no doubt that the pounding propaganda of the PDL exponents has set things up in such a way as to be able to pass off a possible elimination of the IMU on first homes as their own victory, and instead attribute its maintenance, even partial, to the 'incapacity of the government and the obtuseness of the Democratic Party, from an economic point of view it is doubtful that the measures advocated by Brunetta & Co. will really have positive effects on the Italian economy. On the contrary, it is certain that they can bring greater damage to Italian citizens than the modest benefits that would derive from them. It is no coincidence that the PDL is isolated in this position: not only the IMF and the OECD maintain that the priorities are to reduce taxes on work and on businesses, but now also the president of Confindustria Squinzi has decided to say clear and round that the main problem is not that of the IMU and VAT and that the few resources that may be available should be used in other ways, firstly to pay the debts of the Public Administration to businesses and then to lighten the burden of taxes at work.
It's obvious that all Italians would be happy if it were possible to eliminate the Imu. However, it is necessary to clearly explain to voters that choices must be made, and that it seems logical first of all to focus on work and then to try to reduce the tax burden. And to create new jobs it is certainly not possible to implement the recipe of Camusso or Vendola who would like new hirings by the State, but we need to focus decisively on the relaunch of exports and therefore on the competitiveness of our companies and on support for the sectors (food, clothing and mechanics) which appear more promising.
Today the evolution of the international situation could make this choice easier. In the first place, the interest rate policy in the USA and the maintenance of an accommodating monetary policy by the ECB could create the conditions for a strengthening of the dollar towards 115-120 Euros with a weakening of the European currency by more than 10 %. If we manage to combine this weakening of the Euro exchange rate with a policy of recovery of the competitiveness of our businesses both with the tax lever and with labor market regulations more favorable to productivity, our exports could fully grasp the recovery that seems take shape in international trade and thus drive a real revival of our economy. This of course, if we continue to carry out those structural reforms which appear indispensable to sustain our development in the medium term and which range from the change of our institutions, to the abolition of the Provinces, to the reduction of the powers of the Regions, to the reform of the Justice, to the sale of public companies and state-owned real estate.
It seems strange how the exponents of the PDL have a tendency to repeat the mistakes already made in the past and precisely in the summer of 2011, when the controversy against the rigor of Tremonti, accused of having caused the party to lose the elections in two large municipalities (Milan and Naples), began to trigger doubts on the international markets about Italy's ability to honor its gigantic public debt. Fears later confirmed by Berlusconi's inability to close some of the most visible holes in our public finances, such as pensions and local finance. At that point the spread shot up not because of the malice of international markets as Cicchitto wrote in a reflection note of February 2012, but precisely because of the inconsistent and unreliable behavior of the PDL and Berlusconi. Now these controversies, excessive in terms of tone and substance, against Saccomanni, who must also take into account the fact that every month the Treasury has to renew 30-40 billion euros of treasury securities maturing, risk undermining the very confidence we have laboriously reconquered thanks to the seriousness of the Monti government and the stability (at least so far) of the Letta government. And a renewal of the perplexities of international operators about Italy's work would bring far more negative consequences to citizens than the momentary relief brought by the reduction of the IMU.
To the politics of the PDL's daily announcements, which it has now rediscovered the possibility of selling public assets for 400 billion in a short time (but why wasn't this done when he was in the government?) We hope that Letta and above all Saccomanni will be able to respond with clear words that tell the Italians the truth, perhaps asking them to still have a little patience, but indicating a realistic road and possible for a not distant recovery of the economy.
