ROME (ITALPRESS) – Confcommercio President Carlo Sangalli and Vice President in charge of Legality and Security Patrizia Di Dio met with Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi at the Viminale in Rome. At the center of the talks were the issues of legality and security, partly because of the growing concern that businesses in the trade, tourism, services and transport sectors are expressing about the spread of criminal phenomena and, in particular, predatory crimes in various cities and areas of the country.Market tertiary businesses are, in fact, among the most exposed to the action of crime with particularly negative impacts in terms of security, trust and budgets. As revealed by a recent Confcommercio survey, about one in five businesses (18.9 percent) perceived a worsening of security levels in 2023 (+8.6 percentage points over 2022), one in three entrepreneurs fear the risk of exposure to criminal phenomena such as theft, robbery, vandalism, and assault, and there is concern for personal safety, the safety of their employees and their business. In addition, nearly eight out of 10 enterprises have invested in security measures, mainly in video surveillance and burglar alarm systems. According to the Confederation’s Studies Office, last year illegality cost businesses in the trade and public establishments 38.6 billion euros and put 268,000 regular jobs at risk.Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi said, “The meeting with President Sangalli was a useful opportunity to discuss the issue of security and to illustrate all the initiatives put in place by our government in order to combat various forms of crime. These include, in particular, measures such as the extension of video surveillance systems and the strengthening of various proximity devices that guarantee a concrete impact in terms of crime prevention. Since taking office, the government has increased the presence of police forces in high-traffic places to strengthen the policing of the territory and will continue on this path by dialoguing with local institutions and associations such as Confcommercio, which represent fundamental interlocutors. “Thanking Minister Piantedosi for the meeting, Confcommercio President Carlo Sangalli stressed “the importance of intensifying the dialogue with the Ministry of the Interior and all the institutions involved to identify effective and shared solutions to combat criminal phenomena. In this regard, the Confederation brought to the minister’s attention a series of proposals that go in the direction of strengthening legality and security within the country, including through cooperation and the involvement of economic categories that operate daily in the territory. “In particular,” said Vice President Patrizia Di Dio, “Confcommercio proposes the growth of the various modalities of the Neighborhood Police, a measure, moreover, already implemented in some realities with the neighborhood policeman, which should have a wide spread nationwide starting from the most critical areas. In addition, we hope for the participation of trade associations in the meetings of provincial committees for public order and safety, the spread of the single emergency number 112 throughout the country with operations centers in all regions, and the fight against squatting and counterfeiting through greater control of the territory by local governments and the police, especially with regard to the phenomenon of squatting on public land, which, in addition to distorting competition, contributes significantly to the degradation of cities.”
– Photo Confcommercio –
(ITALPRESS).
