Orsini: 'Energy is the problem, at risk for companies'.

Energy 'is the problem. There has been a lot of talk about competitiveness; it is not just a question of price but of the national resilience of companies. If we do not talk about energy to talk about competitiveness, it means that nothing has been understood'. This was said by the president of Confindustria, Emanuele Orsini, speaking at the Piccola Industria Forum underway in Florence. "The Dl bollette - there was a need towards families and small enterprises - was born in one way and ended up in another. We had made amendments to broaden the audience," Orsini continued, emphasising that "we need structural measures, to build a structural path on energy" and recalling that Confindustria had proposed to intervene on "three chapters with decoupling of energy sources, end-of-life renewables, hydroelectric and Gse long-term contracts".

The price of energy in Italy, Orsini continued, is too high as Gme's data shows: 'in 2024 it says Italy pays 108 euros per megavatt hour, Spain 63, France 58, Scandinavia 36, Germany 78. If I take April this year, Italy 99 euros, Germany 77, Scandinavia 31, Spain 26 and France 42. So this cannot be a problem to be neglected'. Returning to the Dl bollette, "we appreciated the fact that an effort was made," said Orsini, recalling that there was an attempt to broaden the range of companies, as was needed, but the measure did not succeed as it should. "We are talking with Palazzo Chigi, with the government, to build a structural path together," he added

The president and CEO of Marcegaglia Holding and past president of Confindustria, Emma Marcegaglia, also raises the alarm of industrialists from the Small Industry Forum in Florence. For Marcegaglia, the cost of energy that Italian companies pay "is a national strategy problem: we cannot pretend not to see that a gap of this kind kills companies". "This situation cannot be sustained," he warns. "This bills decree is not good," recalls Marcegaglia, who says "let's look ahead", also addressing the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Economy and also posing the "internal" problem of the conflict between companies, "between those who produce and those who consume energy": an agreement is needed because "if they kill us who consume it then they are dead too".

In this framework, we need to 'decouple, energy release, and we also need to make a gas release, because gas is still too expensive, go ahead with nuclear power, get permits to make renewables and attach ourselves to the grid - we cannot take five years', because 'energy is geopolitical', so, Marcegaglia summarised, 'we must huddle with Orsini, make an internal agreement, and then ask that in the very short term there be solutions to have a price in line with our European competitors'.

"I think that continuing to say that the green deal should be eliminated does no good, in fact we harm ourselves, because the green deal will not be eliminated. Instead, it is also good to be the ones making the most effort, because we developed first. What we must strongly demand is a change of approach, more time and less bureaucracy,' added Marcegaglia, speaking at the ongoing Small Industry Forum in Florence. "We must eliminate those factors that make life impossible for us. All our sectors are in a state of total uncertainty, we must do the Green deal but in the right ways and at the right time,' she stressed.