'There is great disappointment'. This is how Maurizio Marchesini, Vice President for Supply Chains and Medium-Sized Enterprises, commented in an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore on the new decree on high energy prices passed by the Council of Ministers last Friday.

"It is very modest both in content and in the time horizon of the planned measures. The reduction of 25 cents per litre in the price of petrol and diesel, apart from being little more than symbolic, is only valid for one month. Faced with entire industrial sectors, often very long - from paper mills to ceramics, from some textile-fashion sectors to foundries - that are under pressure or are literally closing down, we expected a more incisive measure from the government'.

The Vice President, expressed all the industry's concern about the ever-increasing impact of energy and raw material prices and the worrying signs of reductions and temporary suspension of production. "Entrepreneurs," said Marchesini, "have been pressing the government for days to put in place extraordinary and structural measures to calm the excessive and unjustified energy prices, but the draft decree does not provide satisfactory answers. At best, as with the instalment plan of up to 24 months for energy consumption for the months of May and June accompanied by public guarantees on loans taken out to meet the higher costs, it only shifts everything forward in time. For these reasons, we fear that the measure that has just been launched, besides not being effective, will not even be able to restore the confidence of entrepreneurs,' he warned.

According to Marchesini, since the resources earmarked by the decree are modest, it may be necessary to resort to a budget deviation: 'I suggest not waiting too long because doing so now means staying below small amounts. In a few months, on the other hand, we will certainly be talking about higher figures'. The Vice President also drew attention to the need to act quickly through choices to be made both at EU and national level. "France and Germany are already doing this," he said, clarifying that "today, energy is calculated on the cost of gas and, therefore, it is shooting up. The objective is a concerted initiative at EU level for a common regulated gas price, which would protect industry and employees from crazy prices that are very different from the real supply contracts in place,' Marchesini explained. "Then of course, there are the longer-term initiatives, i.e. with non-immediate effects, such as temporarily restarting coal-fired power stations, increase extraction in the sea Adriatic Sea and Italy in general, radically change the Italian energy mix"he noted.

These are proposals that the government is aware of and on which the Vice President renewed Confindustria's willingness to confront because 'the situation is very serious. There is a cry of pain from our industrial sectors that, if it continues to go unheard, will lead to more and more closures and very serious social repercussions,' the Vice President warned.