Meloni: Italy attractive for investment, challenge energy costs

The premier's OK to the proposal for an ordinary industrial plan for Italy launched by Orsini at the Confindustria assembly. 'I agree president, I agree so much that the government is already working together with the production sector, with the social partners to outline the lines of a medium and long-term industrial policy,' Meloni said. He added: "We have also started a public consultation process to write a new industrial strategy, the proposals received will be used to define the White Paper of Made in Italy to 2030, which we aim to present before the summer".

And again: 'President, I want to tell you that we are there, and we are also there starting with the simplifications, on which you are right, I think we need to proceed more quickly, I will personally take it upon myself to deal with this, because there are things that can be done more quickly, the government is very busy on this, but we can certainly work on it more quickly.

Meloni also agreed with Orsini that 'it is necessary to relaunch investments and provide for simpler procedures and definite timeframes. I also say this with reference to the Transition 5.0 plan. In its first version it was too restrictive. We have tried to make it more accessible, but we are ready for further corrective measures if the draught does not turn out to be as desired. Corrections also shared with you.

A similar reasoning applies to Transition 4.0: our commitment, what we are trying to do, is to work with the EU Commission to understand, as I have already said, whether there is a possibility, within the framework of the revision of the NRP, to include both of these instruments, simplifying them'.

This is not enough. For the president of the Council, "it is crucial for the competitiveness of the entire European production system to have the courage to challenge and correct an ideological approach to the energy transition that has caused enormous damage without producing the vaunted environmental benefits". And again: 'Orsini is right when he says that a technology is not changed by rule: only those who had never set foot in a shed could think of doing so, but that is what Europe has done by choosing the forced path of transition to electricity, whose supply chains are controlled by China. I still cannot understand the strategic sense of making such a choice,' Meloni added.

Tariffs chapter. The relationship with the United States is 'fundamental'. To maintain the strength of the West, 'our fates are intertwined. During my visit to Washington I proposed a meeting in Rome between the EU and the US. A first meeting took place on 18 May at Palazzo Chigi with Vance and von der Leyen. It was the beginning of a dialogue that Italy has continued to facilitate over the past few days, and which should be continued, if I may say so, with a more political than bureaucratic approach".

In any case, the Goberno considers it 'fundamental, all the more so in a framework of instability in international markets, that Europe has the courage to remove those internal tariffs that it has imposed on itself in recent years'. "This figure suffices," Meloni added: "According to the International Monetary Fund, the average cost of selling a good between EU states is equivalent to a tariff of about 45 per cent, compared to the 15 per cent estimated for domestic trade in the United States. Not to mention services, where the estimated average tariff reaches 110%: this cannot be sustainable'.

On the former Ilva, finally, 'there is a need for all players to lend a hand and there are no players who prefer to put spokes in the wheel: I think everyone understands what is at stake,' the prime minister said again. And she added: the situation 'that we have inherited' is 'very complex', but 'the government will continue to do its part and I am sure that everyone will do their part'.