Orlando: reviewing incentives from an environmental point of view
To the Minister of Labor, Andrea Orlando, the economist Becchetti summarizes the proposals that started in Taranto, including the reform of incentives, rewarding those who respect the environment, a prize for industrial investments that protect sustainability, a prize for “hard” sectors such as cement and steel that reduce tons of CO2, a performance bonus with the mandatory non-financial reporting for companies with over 250 units, finally more and better training for more and better work. Minister Orlando agrees. “We must chase away the temptation that it is never the time to start – he says -. It can be said that as the economy is recovering, it is not the time to introduce new assumptions. No, the time is now. Because if we go back to the old models, we will never change ”. For Orlando, regarding the incentive reform, “if we want to achieve the transition goals, we need to aim better. It is also necessary to strengthen corporate social responsibility because if the market players do not change, it will not be enough to give us objectives. Non-financial reporting is important to stimulate internal processes ”. As for Orlando, “the transition cannot be something that comes from above, but participation is needed, also using new technologies, and a more intense season of social dialogue”. Orlando also indicates a layoff that “is training income and not six months that go by without doing anything”.
Gentiloni: European leadership to do more
“Growth and environment, development and equity, nothing better than the choice of Taranto can symbolize this. Taranto is the best place to achieve these goals ”, says the EU commissioner for economic affairs, Paolo Gentiloni. Now, says Gentiloni, “through the national plans we have the opportunity to relaunch more sustained and more sustainable growth. Europe was crucial in defining the Paris climate agreements. In July, the commission presented a package to reduce emissions by 55 percent by 2030. European leadership is not a flight forward but it serves to push the rest of the world to do more. The Glasgow conference at the end of the month will be decisive ”. “We cannot think of local responses to common problems – says Gentiloni -. Common responses are needed and this has been the European response: from vaccines, to work and recovery ”. And according to Gentiloni, “having set minimum taxes also falls within this logic. The race to lower corporate taxation will stop and taking refuge in tax havens will be more difficult ”. And David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, says in a message to the assembly that “if sustainability is the synthesis and common horizon of our actions, the Green Deal and the Next Generation EU represent the concrete translation of the European commitment towards the environment and future generations. These measures outline a paradigm shift that is not only economic and social but also cultural ”. “Development without justice or growth without rights is no longer acceptable” Sassoli underlines.
The Taranto question
The Taranto issue, still grappling with the unresolved work-environment conflict, has been mentioned several times in the debate in recent days. “Taranto – warns Stefano Franchi, general manager of Federmeccanica – can be the epicenter of the planet we hope. One wonders if the fate of Taranto is still that of the steel mill. In 2019 – continues Franchi – it seemed that we were facing a positive turning point. Steel is vital, it is the raw material, the first link, then there is everything else. If steel is missing, everything else is missing ”. In 2019 there was no expected turning point, now what? “It is a very difficult phase – observes Franchi -. We come from a difficult pandemic but we are now in a very important and decisive phase. There is work, there are orders, but not the materials to produce. My answer to the question whether there is still a need for the steel mill is therefore an all-caps yes, we need the steel mill ”. “There are the conditions to overcome opposing visions – says Luigi Sbarra, secretary general of the CISL, referring to the years of fire experienced by the Apulian city -, when on the one hand the logic of profit prevailed over human life and on the other those who argued that everything was razed to the ground following the footsteps of an unhappy degrowth “. “We – Sbarra notes – argued that steel is a positive prospect for this territory and for the country’s production structure, but this must be linked to a strong cycle of investments: environment, health, safety, reclamation. Today this condition exists. There are resources, we have will and institutional and corporate expressions willing to take up the challenge “.
Archbishop Santoro: Taranto is a model, not by chance“
Taranto is no longer a case but a model ”asks the archbishop of Taranto, Filippo Santoro, head of the organizing committee of the Social Weeks. Santoro finally compares Taranto to a vineyard condemned “to be uprooted, sterile, fruitless, doomed. We are here to hoe around it, to trace a furrow that can allow its roots to be sprinkled with confidence again ”.