«Expectations for 2023 are better than one might have imagined: 2022 has left us with a trail of uncertainty whose effects we will initially see, but from September we expect a drop in inflation and a solid recovery in consumption and trade international. We are traveling towards a new export record. After the slaps of 2008 and 2010, Italian industry has become stronger, capitalised, transformed».
The challenges
The picture of the situation and the economic prospects, less gloomy than expected, outlined by the president of Confindustria Carlo Bonomi, form the backdrop for the ongoing debate on the present. In Venice, in the house of The Human safety net at the Procuratie Vecchie in Piazza San Marco, the Confindustria system with its regional branches took stock of future challenges at the conference “Transition and development: the future of the EU and the Regions”. Themes at the center of the economic and social agenda: “How many funds will the Government be able to commit in 2023 and what part will be destined for the South in the light of the final 2022 expenditure of the PNRR?”, asks Vito Grassi, vice president of Confindustria and prime minister of the regional representations and for Confindustria’s territorial cohesion policies. “Faced with such an amount of investment, collaboration between the public and private sectors is essential and we are ready to provide our full collaboration,” he adds.
Energy and autonomy
The Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin underlines the need for Italy to take back its energy destiny in hand. And the debate on institutions and autonomy is also central: in front of the presidents of the region Zaia (Veneto) and De Luca (Campania) the minister for regional affairs and autonomy Roberto Calderoli illustrates the next steps and clarifies the key points: «Tuesday an updated and modified text on the matters under discussion will be in the pre-council, which, like it or not, are 23. Of these we will verify one by one services and functions, only in this way will it be possible to quantify the costs in a serious way: a technical, political and science that could take office as early as next week. Territorial gaps are large and have existed for too long to think of easy solutions. “Autonomy must not be a theme of division of the country”, underlined Bonomi during his concluding speech. «I think we can make some reflections – added Bonomi – but autonomy must not be a theme of division of the country, we cannot afford it. This country has urgent problems to address.” The long wait for the reforms, moreover, has changed “the world compared to when the Constitution provided for autonomy on 23 matters – Bonomi clarified – Today we need to use intellectual honesty and ask ourselves whether on issues such as ports, airports, production and transport of energy it makes sense to hypothesize territorial micro-managements or rather to entrust them to a higher level».