«A tutor for foreigners who want to invest in Italy»- Corriere.it

There are investors from the United States, Germany and France, but requests come from all over the world; I have had meetings with Swiss and Spanish companies, next week I will see entrepreneurs from India and then from Mexico: the world wants to invest in Italy and we must help those who decide to do so. Adolfo Urso leads the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy (MimIt), a precise choice that of Giorgia Meloni’s government to change the name of the old Ministry of Economic Development, and one of the objectives, he explains, is precisely that of attracting foreign investments in our Country, Made in Italy synonymous with a product of excellence in the world, and not just in fashion and food.

Minister, Italy is a very attractive market but then foreign companies often come up against a reality made up of bureaucracy and slowness, is there a solution?
In the decree law on the strengthening of the administrative capacity of the Public Administration approved by the last Council of Ministers, a mission unit “attracting and unblocking investments” is established at MimIt to encourage the entry of foreign investors, accompanying them along the entire process: for the first time the government has a single point of reference for foreign companies.

How does it work?
It will be a one-stop shop that foreign companies can turn to right from the start with a ministry tutor who will follow them at all stages, even after the investment, because we want them to stay and continue to give work for years. All the authorization processes are advocated at MimIt to speed up administrative procedures: when investments exceed 25 million euros, the ministry can already take the place of inactive administrations today. For investments exceeding 450 million euros, a preferential lane is envisaged for the most innovative sectors, with a single authorization process thanks to the dialogue between the ministry and the Regions.

To attract foreign investments, technologies and structures capable of welcoming them are also needed. Italy ready?
With Invitalia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regions and ICE we are drawing up a map with areas and sectors in which to invest both at an industrial level and for large infrastructures to be built with the “PPP – public private project” system and we are studying a way to securitize some investments through the issuance of bonds. The Zes (special economic zones) are now coming into operation together with the Zls (simplified logistics zones) which provide simplified and faster routes for investments.

Isn’t there a risk that Italy will be sold out?
This is what the Golden Power is for, to give prescriptions (and in the case of prohibitions), objectives and limits: a security tool for Italian companies, but to avoid the risk that the investment will block, in the Priolo decree, for example, I have a regulation has been inserted which gives the Italian company the possibility to take advantage of aid in the event that the foreign investor, due to the Golden power, can no longer intervene. If I place a ban, I still have to leave a chance.

At what stage the scrapping of cars? Will there be new incentives?
We are engaging with business associations to review the system. It is true that the incentives for electric cars remain largely unanswered and those who buy an electric car often scrap a 4 or 5 euro that they already own, while those for hybrid or endothermic cars with low emissions run out immediately. We have the oldest fleet in Europe, 11 million cars from euro 0 to euro 3, over 25% of the vehicles in circulation. Our goals are to scrap the most polluting cars, help those who cannot buy a more ecological car, encourage the sale of vehicles manufactured in Italy or with largely Italian components.

Will Italian car production increase?
Certainly, meanwhile in recent months we have supported investments of 2 billion euros with 10 development contracts and 3 agreements for innovation, plus another 8 billion with Pnrr branches. The automotive table that I wanted serves to define a more complete industrial policy that also helps the components sector in the production reconversion in order to remain competitive. The strength of our system lies precisely in the automotive supply chain, which supplies Stellantis but also a large part of the German car manufacturers.

The Conference for the reconstruction of Ukraine is being held in Rome on 26 April. What role will Italy play?
A great opportunity for Italy. A logistics corridor will be activated immediately which will bring goods between Ukraine and Italy with Venice and Trieste as final ports and Verona as a central node with a logistics platform. There is a country to rebuild, we were already Ukraine’s third largest trading partner, we are ready to do our part.

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