ROME (ITALPRESS) – Cutting the permanent tax wedge, new generation nuclear power, reforms, investments, an extraordinary construction plan, and safety at work. These are just some of the recipes contained in the report of Confindustria President Emanuele Orsini at the assembly that saw a packed audience and the presence, among others, of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The number one of the industrialists, in view of the maneuver, urges the government to a “cut in the tax wedge that must be made permanent: because if wages are below the European average, the cost of labor is higher. We are at the gates of the drafting of the Budget Law and, as happens every year,” he points out, “hypotheses, fears and hopes are flourishing. We give credit to the government for wanting to keep the bar straight on public accounts, and for that we thank it. By November, EU member states will have to submit a medium-term structural fiscal plan. We expect our Structural Fiscal Plan to include those reforms and investments that are absolutely necessary. There must be serious industrial policies and relevant investment incentives, the answer to the post-NRP. This is an extremely important issue for us: we have to think now about how to continue with investments, such as the boost that Industry 5.0 has to give us. Otherwise we risk a stalemate or, even, a step backward. We will also present the government-within a few weeks-with a series of zero-cost measures that are essential for legal certainty and the unbureaucratization of the burdens that stifle our businesses today, so much so that they turn the entrepreneur into a kind of additional civil servant.” Orsini then talks about a project he has “close to his heart”: the Extraordinary Construction Plan for newly hired workers. “It represents a concrete way of responding to a primary need: housing, as a fundamental asset for facing one’s life with dignity and building a future. We all know that one of the biggest obstacles to finding new employees is the scarcity of housing at a sustainable cost. The idea we have proposed-and which the government has accepted-is to set up a joint table that also involves Ance, Anci, insurance companies, banks, the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, real estate funds and pension funds, to study together the best formulas for financial guarantees, so that ‘patient funds’ can implement projects while guaranteeing a sustainable rent. For this I thank the Prime Minister’s Office and the entire government, with whom talks are already underway to assess all aspects related to the implementation of the project and its taxation. I am convinced that this Plan is fundamental for restoring that social elevator, the basis of confidence and the very push for birth rates, which made the country run in other phases of the second half of the last century. Another social challenge concerns our young people. We cannot forget that, unfortunately, for eighteen months Italian industrial production has had a negative sign,” he notes. Orders in many of our supply chains are falling, both in Italy and abroad. The European slowdown, and especially the German one, continue to push us down. The domestic market continues to show its weaknesses, and many of our companies are struggling. All the more reason, the contraction of Italian industry obliges us to consider it a real collective responsibility, of all social and political actors in our country, to achieve a decisive leap forward in Italian productivity.” The president, moreover, places emphasis on occupational safety, explaining that, together with the unions, there is much to be done together. “We are ready to engage in confrontation. On one issue we have promised ourselves from the beginning to do everything in our power to contain it, to reduce it, to bring it down. And it is my firm conviction to go all the way. I’m talking about workplace injuries, a tragic chain of broken lives, of people torn from their families, from their loved ones while working to give them a better prospect. We and the unions must make sure that this chain of bereavement for families and companies stops. We must set up a permanent table to monitor and verify safety regulations.” Then a brief passage on the Strait Bridge, with the need to connect it to “an adequate rail and road system is essential: we must follow up on all the investments that have been planned.” On the energy issue, Confindustria is convinced “that the return to nuclear power is strategic. We have all learned that energy independence is a matter of national security: so why don’t we all together support the latest generation of nuclear power, instead of continuing to supply ourselves at increasing prices from the old French nuclear power plants? Yes, it is mentioned in the new energy plan. But we all know that if we started today, it would take at least 12 years to deploy it. We cannot waste any more time. We know very well that the time has come, together with the economic and trade union groups, to explain the turnaround to the public and illustrate how small modular reactors are much safer and less invasive on the territories than large old generation power plants. Do you think it is possible to continue paying for energy up to 40 percent more than the European average? We don’t. And do you think that only the use of energy from renewable sources can meet our energy needs? We don’t.” Then, a long passage on Europe. “We must not forget that today the transitions, energy, environmental and digital, pose fundamental questions: industrial, political and ethical that we can no longer ignore. I say this clearly, in agreement with my colleagues in the European Confindustries. The Green Deal is steeped in too many mistakes that have put and are putting industry at risk. We believe that this is nobody’s goal,” he says. “Decarbonization pursued even at the price of deindustrialization is a debacle. The history and the European electric car market that we are giving away to China speak for themselves. The Italian automotive supply chain is in dire straits, impoverished of its future after having given birth to the world’s most beautiful cars and invested enormous resources in cutting emissions.” Finally, Viale dell’Astronomia’s number one points out that “between 1993 and post-Covid, compared with an increase in GDP per capita in the United States of +56.6 percent, Europe’s was half that. The result is stark: enough is enough, we must change pace. Industry, both Italian and European, will vigorously defend technology neutrality, calling for a more realistic and gradual implementation of the Green Deal. That is why a solid European industrial policy is needed today more than ever. A reindustrialization based on cutting-edge technologies, raw material production, and the application of artificial intelligence, combined with an appropriate review of trade and competition policy. All this requires colossal public and private investments, common strategies that are non-existent today, due to intra-EU conflicts of vision and interests. A convergent economic policy, for the preservation and maintenance of the single market, and a Stability Pact equal to the challenges before us. To date, however, we fail to see how Europe can restart with the momentum it would need,” Orsini concludes. (ITALPRESS).
-Photo: Confindustria press office.
For Confindustria among priorities tax, reform and investment
