Ciriani: there will inevitably be a referendum on nuclear power in Italia

Greta Farina is 26 years old. She has been living in London for seven years. She chose King's college for her bachelor's degree and then moved to Cambridge for her master's. 'Things have changed a lot today with Brexit, but when I arrived, in 2019, I had public support to study at the best universities, I had the opportunity to do small part-time jobs to support myself and now I do research in a country where there is the analytical approach and support that research needs,' she says. He always thinks of Italia, 'it is my favourite country'.

If you ask her about return, however, no, that is a different story. There are many obstacles, the main ones, especially for a researcher like her, being 'precariousness and salary', as she told the Festival of Economics in Trento in which she wanted to participate by sending her application to the Call for ideas competition, the voices of tomorrow.

"We have moved from proprietary concentration to algorithmic concentration". The words of Andrea Imperiali, professor at the Università Cattolica and member of the IA Committee of AgCom, were one of the keys to the discussion at the Trenton Festival of Economics built around the book "Economics of Media Industries", edited by Massimo Scaglioni and published by Vita e Pensiero. A dialogue on the changes that in the last twenty years have affected the media, today economic, algorithmic and cultural infrastructures capable of affecting attention, reputation, advertising, consumption and perception of reality. Also on stage were Federico Silvestri, CEO of Il Sole 24 Ore Group, Massimo Beduschi, ceo and chairman of WPP Media, and Linus, editorial director of Radio Gedi.

In the book, and in the Trento discussion, the focus is on the shift of resources and attention from traditional publishing media to global platforms. "The economic-industrial theme and the democratic theme are not separable," Scaglioni explained. Digital advertising, programmatic advertising and concentration of resources affect the sustainability of media, the quality of content and the possibility of building a shared reality.

Artificial intelligence is not just ChatGpt. It is an industrial chain of chips, cloud, data, energy and economic power. And it is a gigantic political issue. At the Trento Festival of Economics, in the panel 'The Algorithm of Power: Market Dynamics in the Age of Technology', organised with the Italian Economics Society, the discussion between scholars and economists tries to move the debate away from enthusiasm for innovation.

Federico Boffa, from the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano, points the way in the opening: we need more informed citizens and more aware public policies. Behind the apparent simplicity of AI, however, lies an ecosystem dominated by a few giants. Carlo Cambini, from the Turin Polytechnic, describes it as a layered supply chain: chips, cloud and language models. 'Ninety per cent of chips are produced by Nvidia,' he recalls. Then come Google, Microsoft and Amazon, who control the global cloud. Above that are ChatGpt, Gemini and the other generative systems. The higher you go, the more competition grows. But control remains concentrated.

Export: Ambassador Vattani, right to focus on Japan, showcase of Asia In a highly complex context, Japan is a key reference for Italian exports. This was underlined by Italy's ambassador to Japan, Mario Vattani, in his video-linked speech at the panel 'The challenge of Italian exports in an increasingly unstable world' at the Trento Festival of Economics.

'The Osaka Expo,' stressed Vattani, 'was truly a success for Italian products. I think it had an effect on exports, but also on attracting investment. And I am really pleased that you have chosen to dedicate a window to Japan, which is very appropriate given the theme: in the challenge of Italia's exports, in an unstable world, we have a Japan that remains one of the most solid and reliable economies in the world, a highly advanced production system, very efficient infrastructures, and then above all, a very important aspect for our exports, it is a country that protects intellectual property unlike others'.

The aim is to make one more step on the Irpef reduction, raising the second Irpef rate bracket (the one now at 33%) from 50 thousand to 60 thousand euro of income. Of course, if the resources available for the next manoeuvre allow it. But not only because the path to the completion of the fiscal reform now sees the finishing line: the Omnibus corrective decree and the Tax Code are missing, but in the meantime 28 delegated decrees have already been passed, 24 of which are in the 'Official Gazette'.

Changes remain on the agenda that can only be made if the resources are available. The reference is to the adjustments on the financial income side where there are hot topics such as the unification of the treatment of real estate and securities funds and the reduction from 26% to 20% of the taxation on the returns of investments of professional funds. These are some of the topics that Deputy Minister of the Economy Maurizio Leo addressed on the sidelines and during the work of the panel "Opportunities, protections and prospects: a multidimensional approach" during the Economy Festival in Trento.

The government "declares the energy issue a matter of national security in order to take it back into its own hands," says Enrico Giovannini, Asvis scientific director and former minister for sustainable mobility, during a panel at the Festival dell'Economica on the subject of sustainability. Giovannini denounces the rethinking of the energy transition across Europe with a series of guidelines that have been "dismantled or overturned", starting with the compulsory reporting of companies. The Green Deal, he says, "is not an environmentalist strategy: it indicates that if the world wants to save itself it must move towards sustainability, but there are those who do not want to change and wave it around like an ideological fetish". In the case of Italia, the country must say that this is the direction in which to go, Giovannini notes, but there are those who slow down this process and among them are some regions. The head of the Asvis alliance indirectly mentions Sardinia, which is against new offshore wind power. "The government on the current constitutional set-up has its hands tied," explains the former minister of the Letta and Draghi governments, who defines as a "dramatic error" the one made with the reform of Article V for the transfer of powers not only of distribution but also of electricity production. "The situation must be reversed and let the regions make the appeals to the TAR.

The Asvis scientific director then emphasised that he would never tire of repeating 'that sustainability is an advantage for Italian companies: those with more than ten employees that have invested heavily in sustainability in the following three years record a +16% increase in added value all other things being equal'. Giovannini took part in a debate organised by the Festival of Economics in which Rita Carisano, Director General of Luiss Gudo Carli University, took part, among others. She pointed out how Generation Z, the one that for anagraphical reasons nowadays attends universities, demonstrates 'a propensity to sustainability with a pragmatic and not ideological approach'. When choosing a company to which to apply for a job, today's recent graduates, Carisano added, ask themselves whether it is sustainability-oriented and are also attentive to social sustainability "for which they feel responsible", while environmental sustainability is now taken for granted, almost taken for granted.

The quality of Made in Italy allows exports to keep running, despite the clouds hovering over international trade, amid tariffs and wars that put freedom of navigation at risk. This is the key to understanding that Antonio Tajani, deputy prime minister and foreign minister, provided during his intervention, in video link-up, at the Trento Festival of Economics on Friday 23 May.

Interviewed by Sole 24 Ore columnist Adriana Cerretelli, he outlined the government's strategy. 'We are doing a lot to support companies,' he said, highlighting the good export results despite the tariffs war. Not only the figures for 2025, 'but also the figures for the first quarter of this year tell us that we have increased by more than 7%,' she added. 'The climate for our exports is very positive and this is also a sign that the action plan put in place by the government is helping companies to strengthen their presence in international markets. There is an overall government strategy that has involved all companies'.

'Infrastructure, especially on the mobility front, is a lever of development for a country. But adequate infrastructure is needed and in Italia it is not'. So said Diego Cattoni, CEO of Autostrada del Brennero, at the Trento Festival of Economics. 'If we look at competitor countries such as France, Spain and Germany, for example, they are far ahead of us. In Italia in 2026 we will have the same kilometres as 50 years ago.

Investments were not made for decades because there was a policy of 'no' that today puts us in an uncompetitive situation. We must start a season of investment in infrastructure,' he added.

"The event at the Brenner Pass next 30 May will be a total catastrophe," said Carlo Costa, general technical director of the Brenner Motorway, speaking on the panel 'Why sustainability is central' at the Trento Festival of Economics, organised by the Il Sole 24 Ore Group and Trentino Marketing on behalf of the Autonomous Province of Trento. "More than 10% of national imports and exports pass through the Brenner Pass.

"Today, even the activities of the UN agencies have been put in crisis since the main donor country, the United States, has decided to cut funding. The UN's regular budget itself is not high. But the big chunk of the budget is determined by voluntary contributions, with the US share alone amounting to over 40%. In the Trump era, voluntary contributions have been almost wiped out and those for the regular budget have also been severely cut'. This was said by Staffan De Mistura, former Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs and UN special envoy, speaking at a panel at the Trento Festival of Economics organised by the 24 Ore Group and Trentino Marketing. "No other country has come forward to fill the gap left by the American disengagement," he added, "China has always donated very little in terms of voluntary contributions, while Europe already considers itself to be one of the biggest donors. In any case, the total UN budget, between ordinary and voluntary contributions, amounts to 70 billion'.

'I say this in a low voice,' said the Minister of Tourism, Gianmarco Mazzi, on the sidelines of the panel 'The role of live music in the development of tourism' in which he took part yesterday at the Trento Festival of Economics: 'The situation will favour tourism in Italia. Not because the world is better off. If anything, the opposite. Because when distant routes become uncertain, travellers cling to a Europe in which Italia continues to appear as a pocket atlas of desires: sea, villages, food and even concerts.

'From the first projections we have, European tourists will choose Italia'. And adds Mazzi: 'In 2026 there will be a 2% growth in presences and arrivals over 2025 and 4% in terms of value, although I hope these percentages will be much higher'.

"Hiring one million people in the next six to seven years means a significant recruitment effort, but I am very optimistic, even though it is a very challenging goal. This was stated by the Minister for Public Administration, Paolo Zangrillo, pointing out that 'we need a generational change because in 2032 we will lose a million people who will accrue the requirements for retirement,' speaking at the Trento Festival of Economics. "In 2026 we count on hiring between 200 and 250 thousand people, so we have a recruitment plan that is in line with the values we have recorded in the last three years," Zangrillo announced, also recalling that in January alone 24,100 people were hired, of which "a significant part dedicated to the health sector and another significant part dedicated to local authorities".

"We are seeing a lot of difficulties, we are seeing critical difficulties, the linearity of forecasts is blown, the linearity of growths is blown". But 'given the historical track record', one can think that 'from 2025 to '26, to '27 we can still somehow reach' the target. This was indicated by Ice president Matteo Zoppas in his speech at the panel 'The challenge of Italia exports in an increasingly unstable world' as part of the Trento Festival of Economics, with reference to the target of 700 billion in exports by 2027. The target, Zoppas pointed out, "was set in any case before both tariffs and the rise in the euro-dollar, and the situation in the Middle East, which apparently involves 28 billion euro of exports out of the 640 billion. But the effect of Hormuz affects the whole of Made in Italy".

"It's time for European independence," says former Prime Minister Enrico Letta, author of the report on the European single market, who warns from the Trento Festival of Economics: "We should even make a declaration of independence of the European Union, because the dependencies we have lived with all these years are the great element of our weakness". And he launches 'a great appeal: if we want to be independent and autonomous, we must start with a declaration of independence'. Europe,' he stresses, 'now needs 'medium and long-term choices', which are 'complicated' to make, they are 'tiring'. We must 'do as we did with the euro' and today 'do it with energy, with the army, with European defence, with European connectivity and above all with the financial markets'. As with Covid, 'when we were in crisis we took decisions'.

A merger between UniCredit and Commerzbank has 'no legal impediments to prevent it'. This is how Antonio Patuelli, president of the ABI, responded when interviewed at the Festival dell'Economia. As is his custom, the president of the ABI does not respond on current market operations such as the one cited by the interviewer, but adds: 'I have read of controversies in recent years on this matter but I have not read of any legal measures preventing it: it is only a matter of the market'. Patuelli, responding later on the same subject, notes that he does not see any preclusion in the rest of Europe against Italian banks that 'hold no less than 20 banks in other EU countries', in particular the first two, Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit.

"On waiting lists, I would like to reiterate that I am proud to have put my hand in as minister on this issue. We have more than 20 years behind us of postponements and decisions that were not taken, while this government has passed a law to finally put things in order and we are beginning to see the first improvements, both in terms of the number of services on the increase and the decrease in time. The numbers show a reversal of the trend'. This was stated by the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, in connection with the Trento 2026 Festival of Economics. 'We finally have clear rules: citizens cannot pay for inefficiencies or delays in the system, and if the public service cannot guarantee a service on time, that service or visit,' Schillaci emphasised, 'must be ensured with intramoenia activity or that of the accredited try without additional costs with respect to the ticket or exemption for exempt patients. Where we are getting organised, we are seeing improvements'.

In the current crisis context, 'for an entrepreneur the problem is not just having the highest energy cost, but not knowing how much energy will cost tomorrow. To do business you need certainty and I believe that this is Europe's weakness. We must push Europe, and our country, to make different strategic policies'. So said Emma Marcegaglia, president and CEO of Marcegaglia Holding, during one of the panels at the Trento Festival of Economics, organised by the Il Sole 24 Ore Group. "We must all understand that having an energy dependence impacts on the accounts of families and businesses and, therefore, impacts on the ability to create wealth. If we are no longer competitive and able to stay in the markets, we will move towards a decline and a process of deindustrialisation, which in part is already underway," said Marcegaglia. The energy shock "affects Europe a lot, not just Asia and China, much less the US. We have too many dependencies, we should organise our value chains better. Europe is too dependent on foreign gas and oil, so we need another energy strategy,' Marcegaglia said, stressing that 'we need to think about a structural change, we need to be more independent and autonomous, to have more strategic autonomy, otherwise at the next crisis we risk having a disruption'.

The US needs "closure and so does Iran. This war makes Israel a super power, but it has Arab countries around it. A hatred has been established that will bring very heavy consequences. The humiliated and powerless peoples will eventually take revenge'. This was said by Romano Prodi, interviewed by the director of Sole 24 Ore Fabio Tamburini during the Trento Festival of Economics. "On the part of Israel and the US there is an extraordinary strategic capacity but a political incapacity that I have never understood," added the former Italian premier. "American society is no longer what it once was, I have seen piece by piece the changes: from Bush to Clinton, then Obama. It has become radicalised like all world politics. Now identity becomes the yardstick by which democratic countries orient themselves. Maga is like Allianz für Deutschland or the extreme right in Italia. It is identity that triumphs over everything, but it kills diplomacy and returns to religious wars,' Prodi concluded.

The Europe that Donald Trump treats like an extra in his Scottish resort when he receives the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Europe that sees projects that, emblematically, seem to be trying to build a common rail market starting with trains. Two distant images, yet held together by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo in an argument that, at the Trento Festival of Economics, resembles less a lesson on Europeanism and more an industrial alarm, an alert on a diplomatic, economic, strategic risk.

There is a geopolitical point: 'I believe that there has never been a time in the world so delicate and so potentially dangerous'. For the former Ferrari chairman and now chairman of Italo, Fondazione Telethon and Manifatture Sigaro Toscano, the issue is also a productive one. It concerns factories, energy, technology, work. "In the silence we are witnessing a deindustrialisation of Italia that is frightening," he says when interviewed by Agnese Pini, director of Qn, Il Resto del Carlino, Il Giorno and La Nazione, during the meeting 'Why we need a United States of Europe'. And the list that follows is an x-ray of a national downsizing: 'We no longer have the automobile, we no longer have electronics, we risk no longer having steel'.

"Artificial intelligence is a real political competition, but Europe is not taking part in it. Impact on employment? It will impact on every aspect, so much so that the Chinese are now working to regulate it as we Europeans are'. These were the words of Romano Prodi, interviewed yesterday evening by young people as part of the Trento Festival of Economics, underway until tomorrow and organised by the 24 Ore Group and Trentino Marketing on behalf of the Province.

Electoral law reform? "It is done. And I believe that between the two bars that are being talked about, three per cent may be a correct thing'. The reform of autonomy? 'It must be clear that if there is no autonomy, there is nothing else'. The legislature? "The natural expiry date is 13 October 2027. I will not stay in an executive that wants to dissolve before that." Has Salvini opened up to the hypothesis of an early vote? "I have spoken about it with him personally. Not only should we not talk about April or May but, since the legislature ends on 13 October, if we go to vote in December, there is the possibility of making not only this year's budget law, but also next year's."

An energetic Roberto Calderoli arrived at the Trento Festival of Economics to take part in the meeting 'Special Autonomies, geopolitics, young people as protagonists' together with the President of the Autonomous Province of Trento Maurizio Fugatti and the President of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano Arno Kompatscher.

Europe's role in a changing world due to geopolitical tensions. The search for new markets and the role of banks. These are some of the themes of the fourth day of the Trento Festival of Economics, the event organised by the 24 Ore Group and Trentino Marketing on behalf of the Autonomous Province of Trento. Kicking off will be an event in which Enrico Letta, Emma Marcegaglia and Antonella Sberna will participate.

The role of banks as Europe's strength will be illustrated by Abi president Antonio Patuelli. Stefano Barrese, head of Intesa Sanpaolo's territories bank division, will speak about banks, territories economy and artificial intelligence. The director general of Confindustria, Maurizio Tarquini, will illustrate the challenge of Italia exports in an ever unstable world. The presence of the government is still strong. The Minister for Public Administration, Paolo Zangrillo, is expected to attend, as well as Anna Maria Bernini, Minister for Universities and Research, and Luca Ciriani, Minister for Relations with Parliament. The presence of Deputy Minister Maurizio Leo is also expected in Trento.