Home » Draghi remembers La Malfa: “He was one of the greatest builders in the Republic”

Draghi remembers La Malfa: “He was one of the greatest builders in the Republic”

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«La Malfa was one of the main builders of the Republic, a convinced Atlanticist and pro-European, one of the fathers of the economic miracle. Thanks to La Malfa, Italy became a model of Europe in terms of trade liberalization ».

Prime Minister Mario Draghi underlined this, speaking in the new chamber of parliamentary groups of the Chamber of Deputies, on the occasion of the presentation of the “Ugo La Malfa Portal” which includes writings, speeches, correspondence, multimedia. Draghi remarked “the great openness of mind” of La Malfa and his ability to reflect on the economy. “La Malfa was one of the main builders of the Republic – the premise -. Anti-fascist, his opposition to the Regime cost him an arrest and military degradation, before his expatriation in Switzerland. “And again:” La Malfa brought the liberal and democratic values ​​of the Action Party to the National Liberation Committee and to a new home, the Italian Republican Party. In foreign policy he acted as a convinced Atlanticist and pro-European. ”

Here is the full speech of the premier

«I am very happy to be here today to pay homage to Ugo La Malfa. First of all, I want to thank those who have contributed to this important initiative, starting with their son Giorgio and granddaughter Claudia. The digital archive of La Malfa’s political writings, his speeches, his correspondence is not just a journey into our collective memory. It is a national treasure, to be preserved for future generations. La Malfa was one of the main builders of the Republic.

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Anti-fascist, his opposition to the Regime cost him an arrest and military degradation, before his expatriation to Switzerland. La Malfa brought the liberal and democratic values ​​of the Action Party into the National Liberation Committee and into a new home, the Italian Republican Party. In foreign policy he acted as a convinced Atlanticist and pro-European. After the war, La Malfa was one of the fathers of the economic miracle. Minister of Foreign Trade in the De Gasperi government, he led the liberalization of trade.
In 1951, he lowered tariffs by 10% and opened the borders to free trade, in the face of accusations of wanting to destroy the Italian economy and expose the industry to unregulated competition. He was motivated by the conviction that it was necessary to stimulate the country’s economy with competition, especially in the South. To focus – as he put it – on the “national ability to go to markets”, on the initiative and entrepreneurial spirit of Italians.
With audacity and without inferiority complexes.

History has proved him right. Exports from Italy increased rapidly throughout the 1950s and the trade deficit in relation to total trade volumes decreased.
Thanks to La Malfa, Italy became a model for Europe. Other countries, such as France and England, soon gave up on customs barriers. The whole of Europe moved towards a regime of trade liberalization, which would culminate in the Treaty of Rome and the European Economic Community. These choices earned La Malfa the admiration of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation and of Germany.
Ludwig Erhard, during a visit to Italy, praised his courage and tenacity with some amazement. That Italy, open and courageous, knew how to surprise the German minister of the social market economy – and, with him, the whole of Europe. A distinctive trait of Ugo La Malfa can be seen from this historical passage. The great openness of mind, accompanied by the depth of reflection on the economy. Knowledge and beliefs developed with the reading of John Maynard Keynes and American economists. A discovery that took place in a great place of Italian culture: the Research Department of the Commercial Bank.
It was Raffaele Mattioli in 1933 who wanted La Malfa there, despite having recently been released after a political arrest and supervised by the police. Mattioli opened his home to the young people of the Study Office, where they could meet intellectuals, writers and poets, from Bacchelli to Montale. And in those offices of the Commercial Bank, as La Malfa himself recalls, the clandestine battle against fascism took place. As a man of government, La Malfa continued to surround himself with young scholars.
In 1962, as Minister of the Budget, he worked together with Paolo Sylos Labini, Francesco Forte, Giorgio Fuà and Pasquale Saraceno on the Additional Note – his greatest intellectual legacy.
In the Note, La Malfa tried to answer a central question for the reconstruction.
How to transform the exceptional period the country was experiencing into a long-term growth season. La Malfa reminds us of the importance of a planning policy, necessary for a “balanced development”. And it invites us to face the sectoral, regional and social situations that fail to draw “sufficient benefit from the general expansion of the system”. “Only in a phase of great dynamism – wrote La Malfa – is it possible to implement the necessary changes to the economic mechanism without encountering too high costs”.
The alternative is what La Malfa later called “non-government”.
A striking definition, to underline the inability to face the problems, to give continuity to the modernization of the country.
The “non-government” must be contrasted with the courage of economic and social reforms.
A patient but decisive action, which avoids the sterile dramas of ideological clashes, to give Italy a prospect of development, cohesion, convergence.
Today, we remember La Malfa as a great statesman and passionate reformer.
One of the architects of the economic boom, always careful to balance growth and equality.
An honest and rigorous man, who never forgot when, as a young student at Ca ‘Foscari, he ate dried figs to save money.
A protagonist of the civil life of Italy, who has never lost sight of the moral values ​​of clandestine activity and of the Resistance, and the importance of transmitting the memory.
In the letter to Donato Menichella announcing his resignation as Governor of the Bank of Italy, La Malfa worries that the youngest will never know “what we have suffered and what we have fought for all our lives”.
I am sure that the archive we are inaugurating today will contribute to spreading La Malfa’s lesson for reform, his courage, his civil passion.

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