Orsini: 'Europe is at a crossroads, we cannot waste any more time'

''Today we can no longer afford to lose time'' for the relaunch of European competitiveness and industry: this was the message launched by the president of Confindustria, Emanuele Orsini, speaking at the Trilateral Business Forum in Paris with his counterparts from France and Germany. Today there is no more time. We are at a crossroads of the choices we want to make'', he continued, evoking, among other things, the vote in the United States that ''requires us not to waste any more time''.

"Fortunately, today the European Commission has been completed," commented the president of Confindustria, calling for a simplification of European mechanisms. "In the last five years the United States has made 3,500 new regulations, we have made 13,500. Of course we have a need to simplify, we also see this unfortunately, fortunately today the European Commission has been completed, but the United States in a fortnight elected a president and chose ministers, we took 160 days to elect the EU Commission. We need to simplify in order to respond to the companies that are running,' Orsini said.

"I believe that nuclear power must be Europe's choice," said Confindustria president Emanuele Orsini, for whom new nuclear technologies "can help our industries to be even more competitive". But it is ''unthinkable'' to replace gas in such a short time, he pointed out while speaking at Medef in Paris.

"Today we can no longer afford to create a desertification of industry in order to decarbonise," continued the president of Confindustria, speaking at the trilateral with the employers' associations of France, Medef, and Germany, Bdi. "I think we do not have much time left, to tell the truth there is no time left. I believe that today we must understand that we are at a crossroads of the choices we want to make and still unfortunately we do not know the consequences of the choices made in the past. We have several supply chains that will go into crisis, many supply chains in Europe. I believe that today we can no longer afford to waste time. European industry is not far from the environment, in fact it is the best in the world. European industries are the ones that have managed to achieve the best results,' Orsini pointed out. However, he continued, 'I am thinking of the automotive industry: it is unthinkable to change technologies by rule. Keeping with the objective, we cannot think of changing technologies by norm. We need technology neutrality. Only by keeping the know-how of countries can we maintain the competitiveness of our countries and our continent'.

"It is short-sighted to wage a tariff war" with the United States, the president of Confindustria explained. "The US vote is obvious that we must not waste any more time. Today Trump has in his programme three fundamental points on the economy, one of which is duties,' Orsini continued. Recalling that "the US exports 346 billion to Europe and Europe exports 503 billion to the United States with a positive balance of 157", therefore, for the president of Confindustria, "we need to immediately begin negotiations with the United States where perhaps we can put at the centre things that Europe obviously needs, I am thinking of gas and defence, and on the other hand the fact that in any case Europe needs to continue its trade with the United States".