Orsini: 'On Transition 5.0 important that promises were kept'

"We spent four days very worried and alarmed. The expectation was that the promises made would be kept, so when on Friday we saw that" the tax credit envisaged for Transition 5.0 "had gone to 35%, all our entrepreneurs suffered the blow" because "we invested, we believed in the measure and we appreciate that Urso, Foti, Leo and the entire government understood that there could be no exodus". This was said by the president of Confindustria, Emanuele Orsini, speaking on the Focus Economia programme on Radio 24, referring to this morning's round table at the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, during which Minister Adolfo Urso confirmed the resources originally earmarked for Transition 5.0 amounting to 1.3 billion euro and a further 200 million euro were added. "Leaving the table with 1.5 billion and reaching 100 per cent for photovoltaic panels, including Italian ones, was a debt to entrepreneurs for us and I appreciated that this debt was maintained. It is also an issue of trust, it cannot happen that our entrepreneurs cannot trust the government's measures,¸ also because we have other measures coming. This removes an opacity that was created on Friday,' Orsini added.

Extraordinary measures by the EU are needed

Faced with the difficult international context, aggravated by the war in the Middle East, 'Europe needs to act as Europe and support the different countries. Italia, like other countries, cannot do it alone. Extraordinary measures must be taken,' added Orsini, recalling data from the Confindustria Studies Centre: 'We have predicted that if the conflict lasts another three weeks, GDP growth will be 0.5%, if it lasts another four months it will be zero, and if it reaches the end of the year, our GDP will be at risk'.

Speaking about the Italian situation, during the programme hosted by Sebastiano Barisoni, Orsini addressed the Ilva issue: 'It is crucial to keep the former Ilva open. It is an issue of competitiveness. Any way to keep Ilva open, perhaps even with a group of entrepreneurs capable of acquiring, not perhaps the company, but part of the steel coming out of Ilva'. The number one of Viale dell'Astronomia stressed that even if there are no Italian entrepreneurs willing to enter directly into the shareholding structure of the steel group, they are ready to make their contribution through purchases of steel produced by the former Ilva. 'We were in Europe a week ago and Europe cannot lose its basic industry, this also concerns Ilva. We hope that the proposals made can go ahead,' concluded Orsini.