'EU turnaround necessary not to lose the industry'

Europe: if not now, when? The synthesis of Paolo Streparava's reasoning is here, in the central question of the president of Confindustria Brescia's speech, posed not by chance as the title of the annual assembly of the local association of entrepreneurs, one of the country's major manufacturing forces.

This question is addressed to Brussels, which is being asked for a radical change in its policies, just as radical as the change that has taken place in the reference framework. A new season in which globalisation is archived, in which power relations are what count, in which energy, technology and finance have become instruments of power.

The central point,' Streparava explains, 'is to identify industry as a top priority, with competitiveness to be treated 'as a prerequisite for welfare, cohesion, security and economic freedom, not as a technical issue'.

While the launch of the Industrial Accelerator Act is welcomed, it is necessary that those basic indications are translated into swift actions of a new industrial policy. How? The test-beds identified are numerous, starting with Energy, the 'condition of industrial sovereignty', with the request to suspend the Ets system without delay so as not to increase costs for companies.

At the same time, the government's acceleration on nuclear power through new-generation plants is welcomed, with Streparava backing the proposal by Confindustria vice-president Antonio Gozzi to exploit local steel mills for new mini-reactors. Steps forward are also requested on the simplification front, 'with bureaucracy representing a negative competitive factor', as well as in the automotive sector, because 'a transition without realism risks turning into industrialisation'.If Europe is being asked for a turnaround, Italy too must, however, speed up, particularly on the issue of grounding measures, avoiding a repetition of the negative examples of the delays on Transition 5.0.