Interventions

The Italian system as a safe haven from global risks

by Antonio Tomassini and Rossella Cerchia

3' min read

3' min read

Italy does not sufficiently exploit its main asset, which is made in Italy, nor its strategic position in the Mediterranean, the factors most considered by investors. Of the Belpaese frightens mainly the bureaucracy and the complexity and length of the legal and jurisdictional system, followed by the high tax burden. These are some of the indicators emerging from DLA Piper's research developed on a sample of 32 countries, which will be presented on 25 May at the Trento Festival of Economics. The most significant 'number', which indicates the vital need to reverse course, is the paltry 3% of the sample that judges our country to be 'very attractive'.

But should we necessarily only read these figures in negative terms? We would say no, especially in this era of great geopolitical tensions, which correspond, as always in history, also to great opportunities to, precisely, reverse course and start travelling around the world proud of who we are, a bit like the beautiful voyage that our sailing ship Amerigo Vespucci made. This is why, during a Festival of Economics that will have its focus on the current scenarios of 'Risks and fatal choices' that put 'Europe at the crossroads', it seems interesting to us to propose the possibility that the creation of a 'system Italy' opens up the opportunity for our country to represent a 'safe haven against global risks'. A safe harbour in the new 'global disorder' that investors must look to in its systemic architecture.

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Obviously it is a complex path that cannot focus only on better communication of our country and on that internationally perceived stability that is nowadays the most valuable result achieved by the current government, but concrete and rapid choices are needed, with Europe, but, let's say, even apart from Europe if the timeframe is long, then Europe will follow.

Some initiatives are already in place, the Mattei plan on Africa and the international missions devised ex ante, bringing together participating companies in a structured manner. The fact that at least abroad we are starting to present ourselves as a supply chain or district (this should also be the case within our borders, because entrepreneurial dwarfism does not help anyone and exposes us to hostile attacks), are undoubtedly expressions of two of the pillars on which this path should rest, namely:

- Propose Italy as a hub for investments in Africa and more generally in the 'extended' Mediterranean;

- support export and internationalisation; after all, going back to the DLA Piper research, one of the encouraging data in this direction is that 63% of those interviewed believe that Italian companies have a certain attractiveness in global markets (just accompany them, we would say).

It is, however, the functioning and the strategic direction to be given to the internal state machine that are the real Gordian knots to be untied with concrete interventions, starting with a new approach in the (necessary) cut in public spending, which in the last 25 years has increased about four times more than the European average in relation to GDP, focusing on 'how' to cut rather than 'how much'. Moreover, if we do not shake up spending, the other leg of the state budget, taxes, will also remain immobile, so much so that the meritorious attempt at tax reform currently underway is not affecting (downwards, as it should) the tax burden, because the structure and weight of taxes are essentially untouchable for the sake of coverage. As for taxation, if the impasse cannot be overcome, let us immediately consider tax measures to stimulate investment and good immigration, let us finally create the 'family taxpayer', which can contribute to the fight against the demographic winter (another systemic evil, which goes hand in hand with that of bureaucracy) and move beyond the tax return system, which does not photograph the current distribution of the country's wealth and does not facilitate either reductions or the fight against the tax gap, nor the possibility of redistributing taxes. Then there would be the shock interventions on energy, infrastructures, research and the enhancement of our cultural heritage, including the private one, with, for example, an extension of the art bonus, but we do not want to be accused of being among those who add a contribution to the book of dreams, so we will stop here. That is to say, we will stop at the empirical data of a study that attests to how Italy today has more than ever the great opportunity to be a 'safe haven asset', leveraging some of the concrete actions that we have tried to outline.

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