Bonomi in Metropolis: “The Mes should also be used for industrial policy interventions”. Yes to a national fund to support companies or strategic supply chains

«Inflation? It will still be high until August, but then it will go down in the last four months and will be more sustainable». The president of Confindustria, Carlo Bonomi, speaking to the microphones of Metropolis, the streaming program of the Gedi platforms conducted by Gerardo Greco, takes stock of the Italian and European economic situation. When asked by the director of La Repubblica, Maurizio Molinari, and by the deputy director of La Stampa, Marco Zatterin, Bonomi spoke on the hottest topics of this spring. From the ratification of the treaty reform of the European Stability Mechanism (MES) to work, passing through the new sovereign wealth fund to protect Made in Italy. On which he remarks: “If it serves to support strategic supply chains, it’s a good thing, but it’s not going towards the nationalization of the economy.”

He is a Bonomi with clear ideas and a cautious concern for what the future will bring. The extra costs of energy are still affecting, which are being transferred to manufacturing and therefore to the services segment. The first question in Metropolis was about inflation, which reared its head again in April. And that affects the balance sheets of businesses and households and could lead the country to a moderate slowdown. «I am moderately positive – Bononi explained – in the sense that already at the beginning of the year I saw a capacity of the Italian economic system higher than what was represented. I am also moderately positive on inflation, in the sense that unfortunately we discount and will discount until August of this year the energy peak but in the last quarter of the year I believe that inflation will not drop dramatically but will settle between 5 and 6% which is obviously still high but sustainable inflation». Also in light of this, he underlines, «we must put more money in the pockets of low-income Italians and that is why we insist on cutting the tax wedge. We have to work on low incomes».

The real challenge, according to Bonomi, will be by the end of the year. «I believe that work is the beginning of a journey, not a point of arrival. The intervention on the tax wedge is not structural, but nobody could have expected something structural during the year. The challenge will be the next budget law, in which we will see if it will actually become structural», explained the number one of Viale dell’Astronomia. Who underlined that, on the labor market front, «the data show that we are not heading towards precariousness: permanent contracts are increasing. We are not heading towards precariousness, especially in the manufacturing sector». He does not deny the problems, and invites the social partners to discuss. A message explicitly sent to the general secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini. “These issues such as the level of wages for young people, which the leader of the CGIL spoke about today”, says the president of Confindustria. «However – he adds – I remind secretary Landini that in September 2020, as soon as he was elected president of Confindustria, I said: let’s make a ‘Pact for Italy’. I am still convinced that only the social partners, if they sit down at a table, today are able to implement agreements that politics would then be forced to follow up on”. Then, the jab: «The social partners have a responsibility, they have to sit down at the table. I have been at the table since 2020, I have been waiting since 2020 ».

There was also a passage on the Mes and on the new tool to support Italian companies. On the first point, Bonomi remarked that the Mes should also be used for industrial policy interventions. I believe that if the Government follows this type of path it is acceptable and also in the national interest». And he ruled out any kind of filibustering. “It’s not that we block 26 countries. The theme is that you can’t always do what Germany wants, because lately Germany has been imposing directions only in the interest of some member states”. When asked if, therefore, the negotiations being carried out by the Minister of the Treasury Giancarlo Giorgetti are going well, Bonomi replied clearly: «Okay but it depends on what we want to bring home in our interest. I believe that we need to bring home tools that allow us to make and invest in transitions».

On the front of the new sovereign wealth fund, even more clarity. «If a national fund were set up to support companies or supply chains that we consider strategic, that would be fine. Vice versa, if the theme is to nationalize the economy, well, then we really are not there », he highlighted. A very clear message for the competent minister, Adolfo Urso.