Italy restarts from work and skills. Cida’s appeal to Meloni

At the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome the assembly of the Confederation of Italian executives. There is no growth without quality managers, whether public or private. Enough with young people fleeing Italy, now engines full speed ahead on Pnrr and energy. Undersecretary Freni reassures that the Fornero law will not return in 2023

Gasoline, there would be too. That of the Pnrr, money that Europe gives to the countries of the Union at a price that is perhaps more sustainable than the hated two euros per liter seen at the pump until a few months ago. But you have to look at the assembly line if you want to be sure that the car runs and the engine is running. And the chain is work and its managers, the link between productivity and entrepreneurs.

This is the outline of the report by Stephen Cuzzilla, president of CIDA, at the opening of the assembly of the Confederation of public and private managers, held in the morning at the Auditorium Parco della Musica. In front of over a thousand men of industry and administration who flocked to the Sala Sinopoli, the Undersecretary of the Economy, Federico Freni (here the interview issued to Formiche.net), to the Minister of Public Administration, Paul Zangrilloto the Undersecretary of Labour, Claudius Durigonto the president of the Community of Sant’Egidio, Andrew Riccardi and to the vice president of the Senate Maurice GasparriCuzzilla who is also president of Federmanager, has identified the watchwords for Italy’s restart.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING A MANAGER

And therefore, to start again from work with high added value, from inclusive economic and social policies, from a strong investment in education, research and development. Because, “public and private management believe in an Italy that knows how to put merit and skills at the center, aimed on the one hand at guaranteeing the implementation of the Pnrr and on the other to deal with situations of absolute urgency regarding the war, pandemic , climate and energy,” Cuzzilla began.

“Enterprises and administrations need high skills to support development and drive innovation. The implementation of the Pnrr must be entrusted to managerial figures and methods. Not only to spend the resources we have wisely, but also to generate a multiplier effect on growth, to the benefit of the younger generations. In this sense, we ask for more dialogue and a willingness to listen. The communication model must change, not only in consideration of the million managers we represent, but for what we express”.

Cuzzilla recalled how “managers were among the few categories able to respond effectively to the contraction in employment in the pandemic period, with a growth rate of over 5% in 2022 compared to the previous year. A demonstration of how responsibility and ability represent the key to driving the different economic sectors of the country, especially in extremely complex periods. For this reason, the scientific method, primacy of competence, drive for innovation are the cornerstones of managerial thinking to guide development. It is important that the public and private sectors work in synergy. These are two dimensions that must integrate better in order to overcome the extent of the crisis and find solutions to Italy’s ancient ills”.

CIDA CALLS MELONS

It’s not all. Work is and remains a center of gravity for growth, as well as the skills and qualities of managers. “Believing in the primacy of competence also means seriously dealing with work. We are the second country in Europe with the lowest percentage of employed young people, only 31.1%, we are in the penultimate place for female employment and we are first in the standings with over 3 million young people not included in training and education courses. In this too, the Pnrr is an important lever”, explained Cuzzilla.

“In this scenario, for the Confederation”, remarked Cida’s number one, “it becomes necessary to innovate some current or past models. Investing primarily in research and development is a priority. In 2020 our overall spending was at 1.53% of GDP against the European average of 2.32%. Cida asks the current government to consider research as a single system, integrated between public and private, to allow technology transfer to companies and unlock the productivity index that hasn’t grown for a quarter of a century. It is necessary to experiment with new technologies with a logic attentive to the use of raw materials. Energy prices are on the rise, in the third quarter the supply problems of raw materials affected around 60% of industrial companies. A precise industrial strategy is needed on this”.

And the tax could not be missing. “Today it is essential to address the issue of tax reforms. Cida supports the need to overcome the Fornero law, but an overall reform is needed to put the pension system in order without penalizing work. First, by separating pension expenditure from assistance expenditure. Secondly, by acting severely on tax evasion and avoidance. Third, by reducing the tax wedge on labour, with a measure that is not a facade, but stimulates the entry into the productive world above all of young people and women”.

GOVERNMENT BALL

So far the requests from the world of Italian management. Then came the government’s turn, with the considerations of Federico Freni, these days engaged in writing the maneuver in Via XX Settembre. Freni started with a metaphor. “A century ago our children, in this crisis situation, not only social, would have taken the pitchforks and would have come looking for us. Today, however, they do something much simpler, they take a plane and leave, depriving the country of the best energies and best skills. Well, we have to prevent all of this,” Freni explained.

Who then entered into the merits of the measures in the pipeline. First, the flat tax, whose hypothesis on incremental incomes “is being studied, quotations are being made to understand the effective impact and effective scope of the measure. We’re working, there’s a lot in the making, we’re working on it but we’ve been here for two weeks, good things are done with the right time”. Again, pensions. “We’re starting to work on pensions, it’s a very important construction site. Undersecretary Durigon and Minister Calderone are working and 41 will certainly leave, this is a certainty. If quota 41 will start off clean, dry, without an annual coefficient, at this moment I would tend to exclude it. He will leave, probably at 61 or 62, we will see how and when, but he will certainly leave. What is certain is that in 2023 there will be no Fornero law”.