Orsini: 'Goodbye to the endothermic engine in 2035 puts 70,000 jobs at risk'

The car is the most recent and most impactful example for Italian and European industry, as the Volkswagen affair is proving. The deadline of 2035 as the date to end the endothermic engine must be reconsidered, before it is too late. "It is madness," said the president of Confindustria yesterday, interviewed at the Digithon start-up marathon in Bisceglie. For Italy, Orsini pointed out, the endothermic stop involves around 70,000 employees in Italy, in a supply chain that is a globally recognised excellence. "We need to put technology neutrality at the centre, and we need all of Europe to run at the same speed," continued the Confindustria president.

It is a problem of competitiveness, of Italy and Europe. We are a manufacturing country, said Orsini, pointing out our country's 620 billion exports and 100 billion surplus. "We cannot lose important supply chains, in addition to the automotive industry, also ceramics, glass, the shipbuilding sector to give a few examples," Orsini continued. "Transitions must be made with the right timing, the goal of zero emissions by 2050 is very ambitious, it is not just our observation, but the Governor of the Bank of Italy has also said so. We have to protect our country's know-how, we emit 7% Co2, while we represent as the EU 15% of the world's GDP,' said the president of Confindustria.

Cars, then, but not only. There is the whole subject of energy in the foreground: Italian households and businesses continue to pay an electricity bill price between 30 and 40 per cent higher than the EU average. Last July, for example, the average Italian Kwh price was 128 euros, 89 in Germany and 51 in Spain. The way forward, according to Orsini, is to include in the energy mix the nuclear, 'small power plants of the latest generation', restarting experimentation in Italy, bearing in mind that in our country there are around 70 companies operating in the sector and that they are an excellence worldwide.

On the Green Deal industry and the competitiveness of Italy and Europe are at stake. Businesses are environmentally aware, Italy, for example, is an international leader in recycling, and has already reached the European target of 2023 in 2021, Orsini stressed. But decarbonisation cannot put the resilience of European industry and our country at risk. And above all, it must be achieved while respecting technological neutrality. Competitiveness factors are also digitalisation, including artificial intelligence 'can be a great opportunity for our companies', and skills.