Conte to Confindustria: "The Recovery Plan is a plan of the Italian system"

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January 25, 2021The meeting between the government and Confindustria on the Recovery Plan was held today, lasting about an hour and a half.

Chaired by the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, with the president of Confindustria, Carlo Bonomi, connected by video conference.

Then the comparison with the other confederations of companies: Confcommercio, Confesercenti, Confartigianato, Cna, Confartigianato and Confapi. 

The Recovery plan "is not a plan of the government but of the Italian system, therefore it must be widely shared and lay the foundations for rebuilding and transforming the country, guaranteeing a robust recovery, more effective resilience and the implementation of reforms that can overcome the structural shortcomings of the country and to improve its competitiveness ", said the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, during the meeting at Palazzo Chigi with the representatives of Confindustria.

According to sources from Palazzo Chigi, Conte added that "the goal is to offer a prompt recovery to the country, after these months of suffering and economic recession. We are creating the conditions to restart stronger than before".

"We must face this challenge, one of the most important since World War II, with a spirit of common enterprise", he added.

Involve the social partners in governance, implement structural reforms, understand their actual impacts on GDP and employment, implement active labor policies, solve the problem of implementing measures for infrastructural works.

These are the main observations made by Confindustria to the government, in the meeting on the Recovery Plan.

Confindustria: a clear estimate of the employment objectives is needed

"Confindustria, even before entering into the merits of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, in this first meeting with the Government - reads a note - posed four priority issues concerning the method. To inspire them is exclusively the national interest so that the PNRR, a historic and unrepeatable opportunity for the country, reaches its maximum effectiveness ".

According to Confindustria, the governance "necessary for a timely and efficient implementation of the Plan, not yet outlined" should provide for "structured and continuous dialogue with the social partners and their involvement throughout the project execution process".

"Confindustria - underlined - has expressed its full willingness to continue on this methodology of comparison in order to make the NRRR effective and credible in the interest of the country".

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan must have a clear estimate of employment objectives or "in the absence of a general framework of priorities, compatibility and objectives, each evaluation risks being reduced to a mere sum of requests, in the name of the various economic interests and social issues ", Confindustria affirms, in a note issued after the meeting with the government on the Recovery Plan.

"Without a clear estimate of the objectives on the increase in employment rates - starting with young people and women on the decrease in NEETs, on the increase in graduates, on the decrease of territorial and gender gaps - it is not possible - Confindustria argues - to express a opinion on the overall allocation of resources for social sustainability and productivity growth objectives ".

"Recovery does not comply with EU guidelines"

The Recovery plan represents "a historic and unrepeatable opportunity for the country" but, at present, it does not comply "with the guidelines indicated by the EU".

This is what Confindustria underlined at the end of the meeting with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

The association of industrialists indicated four priorities to the government, asked to refine the plan by indicating the actual impacts on GDP and to involve the social partners in governance.

Before even entering into the merits of the PNRR, in this first meeting with the Government, the association led by Carlo Bonomi posed "four priority questions concerning the method".

To inspire them "is exclusively the national interest so that the PNRR, a historic and unrepeatable opportunity for the country, reaches its maximum effectiveness".

The first observation concerns "the non-compliance with the guidelines indicated by the EU and updated last Friday following the consultation between the Commission, Governments and the European Parliament. The guidelines in fact prescribe, in a timely manner, that every structural reform and line of intervention of the 6 structural missions is declined according to a precise estimate of the quantitative objectives to be obtained with respect to the resources committed. This is so that the Commission itself can verify their implementation, both over the duration of the Plan and in the intermediate steps, thus avoiding the risk of withdrawal of funds or, worse still, repayment ".

The structural reforms, in fact, "must be those indicated for years in the periodic recommendations to Italy, therefore first of all those of the labor market, the PA and justice and every intervention must be designed following this methodology".

Furthermore, the line of action, according to Confindustria, "must be plausible, in light of the results obtained by Italy in previous years with interventions in the same sector, and congruous with respect to the main effects of social and environmental sustainability and the general financial framework. Since, at present, we did not find this correspondence in the Pnrr sent to Parliament, Confindustria has asked the Government to refine the Plan to understand its actual impact on GDP ". 

"The government estimates the effects on GDP"

Confindustria, prioritizing the government with various questions of method for the comparison on the recovery and resilience plan, underlines "the lack of compliance with the guidelines indicated by the EU".

So on of Astronomy which, considering among other things that "the line of action must be plausible in the light of the results obtained by Italy

in previous years with interventions in the same sector, and congruous with respect to the main effects of social and environmental sustainability and the general framework of public finance ", he" asked the government to refine the plan to

understand the actual impacts on GDP ". 

"No line on shock absorbers indicated"

In the National Recovery and Resilience Plan it is not clear what kind of reform of the social shock absorbers the government intends to do and for active policies the proposal is too centered on public employment centers. 'observation made by Confindustria, in a note issued at the end of the meeting with the government on the Recovery plan. "Last July Confindustria sent the Government a detailed proposal that combines, in a single objective, the reform of social safety nets and that of active labor policies, opening up to the involvement of private agencies.

The objective of the proposal - explains Confindustria - is the enhancement of human capital and the increase of employability, through the strengthening of the relocation allowance and the expansion contract ".

" The choice we find in the Plan instead - observes the an association led by Carlo Bonomi- not only does it seem to be still essentially based on the Public Employment Centers, but, above all, the direction that the Government intends to take on the reform of social safety nets is not indicated ".