Taxes on work and GDP, from Giorgetti to Meloni: here is the second day of the Trento Festival

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Giorgetti’s hope is that GDP can grow in 2023 “up to 1.4%”. The promise of Meloni and of «widen and make the cut of the tax wedge structural». All this happens on the second day of the Trento Festival of Economics. Who sees prominent public ministers alternate in the crowded debates: from Raffaele Fitto to Matteo Piantedosifrom Gilberto Pichetto Fratin to Elisabetta Casellati, from Daniela Santanche a Charles Nordio to Paolo Zangrillo.

The government’s plan to cut the wedge

The first to speak is Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The impact of the tax wedge cut that the current government is implementing “is different from that achieved by my predecessors and is not finished. Cutting taxation on labor must be a priority” and the challenge is to make it structural and expand it further”. The government’s plan is this: “The cut in the contribution wedge decided with the maneuver and with the decree of May 1st has an important impact with galloping inflation. It’s the most important thing you can do at this stage and that’s not all. The first challenge is to make these measures structural, the second is to broaden them further” said Meloni in video connection with the audience of the Trento Social Theater. And Minister Giorgetti also confirms: «In a moment of such high inflation, the government’s priority is to confirm the measures for families with medium-low incomes. It is the synthesis of the intervention for the reduction of the wedge: we did it when our public accounts policy allowed us».

Optimism on GDP growth

Compared to GDP for 2023 “1.2%-1.4% is the hope, then I realize that we live in a complex reality, I look at the numbers of the German economy that some problems for our industry will cause it, but the performance of services and tourism will help us compensate». The Economy Minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, shows cautious optimism when interviewed at the Trento Festival of Economics. “I continue – he assures – to be cautiously optimistic”. Deputy Minister Leo goes even further: “We were encouraged” by the growth signal that arrived in the first quarter of 2023 (+0.5%) and, compared to growth forecasts of 1.2%, “we will be even more optimistic: it could end up at 1.8%». These are “possible resources that can be put at the service of the tax reduction”, to which we can add the results of the fight against tax evasion: last year “20 billion euro were recovered which generated a little treasure to be able to carry out the interventions in 2023” . On the other hand, those who show concern for GDP growth are the president of ABI Antonio Patuelli: «I fear that the impact on GDP is of a further slowdown, because the GDP forecast in 2023 is lower than that of the previous year and the forecasters did not keep account of the brake of the German locomotive, with which Italy works with large exports and the production of components».

There will be a solution on the Mes

On Thursday 25 May, on the first day of the Festival, EU Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni warned the government: «The Mes is not the Spectre». Giorgetti replies: «The Mes will arrive in parliament. A discussion has been started in parliament and the parliament has given a mandate to the government not to carry it forward. «The parliament – he added – which has taken this position could change it if some things change, thinking that the Mes could also have other purposes than the motivations with which he was born. We don’t blackmail anyone by playing one thing against another. I am confident that a solution will be found.”

On the Pnrr “hysterical debate”

The very hot topic of the Pnrr returns to the stage of the Trento Festival with the competent minister Raffaele Fitto. On the Pnrr “a somewhat too hysterical debate”, “even surreal” political controversies, reiterated the minister during the interview. “We need seriousness and responsibility, and this is the figure that is characterizing the government’s action”, he underlines. For example, he says, “in the Italian debate there is a rush to get credit” for the resources granted to Italy, “but there are no merits or medals to pin down” because, he says, the criteria were objective.

The climate adaptation plan

And then there is the ecological transition. The Minister of the Environment announces: “The presentation of the plan for adaptation to climate change will be concluded before the summer”. According to the minister, “drafting of the plan started in November. We listened to all the experts and stakeholders. At the same time, on the energy front we are working on the new National Energy Plan, the Pniec”.

Nordio: there is no way for a magistrate to criticize the merits of the laws

The very hot topic of justice is also in the spotlight. “Reforms, I hope that we will not find resistance in the judiciary as unfortunately happened in the past, perhaps also due to wrong initiatives or perhaps due to imprudent or excessive initiatives, but one thing must be clarified, that the laws are made by Parliament. There is no creative right on the part of the magistrate, i.e. to interpret the laws as he pleases by replacing the legislator, nor the right to criticize the merits of the laws, unless the politician’s right to criticize the sentences is recognized. And this would not go well in one sense or another” says Justice Minister Carlo Nordio in no uncertain terms, also shortly announcing the reform of wiretapping.

Institutional reforms to come. Objective: government stability

Finally the reforms. “Between June and July I plan to present the bill. If the opposition comes up against nothing then it will mean that they will have traced our path: to go alone. They will decide their fate” announced the Minister for Institutional Reforms and Regulatory Simplification, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, during the session ‘Regulatory simplification and presidentialism as levers for Italy’s growth’. And the premier herself confirms: “The reform of state institutions is fundamental. Let’s listen to everyone, but let’s start from two principles that are inalienable to me: the stability of governments and legislatures, which is the most powerful thing that can be built economically; and respect for the citizens’ vote, Article 1 of the constitution, sovereignty belongs to the people. A reform of this type is not secondary: it is the most important thing that can be left as a legacy for the future”.

Ukraine, Prodi: something is moving but very slow process

Then there was the theme of war. He reflects on Romano Prodi. “The Pope has given all the messages and now it seems that the conversation can begin. But these things must be done in the strictest confidence,” said the former premier at the Trento Festival. “Something is starting to move but it’s still a very slow process to reach a truce because both sides want victory on the pitch.”

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