INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION, CONFINDUSTRIA: THE SIGNAL IS CLEAR, ACTION IS NEEDED NOW IN ITALY AND EUROPE
Orsini: We need a three-year plan together with immediate action

Rome, 14 February 2025 - "It is absolutely necessary to focus everyone's attention on tackling the difficulties that have been hanging over our industrial production for two years now - this is how the president of Confindustria, Emanuele Orsini, comments on the data released by Istat -. The 3.5% drop in 2024 is worse than expected, because the December data alone accounted for a third of this negative result."

'Confindustria,' Orsini continued, 'has long emphasised the need to pay attention to some essential points: the two-year slowdown in Italian manufacturing is not a systemic crisis as in the case of Germany, whose recession pushes down the entire European growth. Looking at the Italian sectors, it is clear that the general decline is due to very different factors. There are two sectors, automotive and fashion-textile-clothing, with serious double-digit losses. Then there are the energy-intensive sectors that are losing significantly due to rising costs, and there are sectors, such as intermediate goods and capital goods for production, machinery and robotics, that are losing due to the brake on investment in our country. All this, in the absence of drastic corrections, risks contaminating even sectors that are so far keeping the Italian economy afloat with difficulty'.

"Today," added the president of Confindustria, "it is more necessary than ever for politicians and institutions to focus and accept the proposal for a serious industrial recovery plan, with a three-year perspective. But some immediate actions are also needed. In particular, on the European front, Italy must make a commitment that the new EU Commission will act immediately on a number of issues: from the zeroing of fines on European manufacturers, to the revision of the ban on the endothermic engine, adopting technological neutrality, and the remodulation of the ETS. Now is the time to correct mistakes that otherwise expose us to great risks'.

According to Orsini, 'Italy must also make quick and clear-cut choices. We need a real plan of appropriate measures, because without industry there is no growth or social cohesion. But immediate measures are also needed. First of all, the energy price formation mechanism is up to us: decoupling the remuneration of gas production from renewables in the bill can be done at a national level, and must be done immediately."  

"Secondly, realistic choices are needed to get investment going again. One of them is to realise that we now risk missing the opportunity of the 6.3 billion in incentives for Industry 5.0: a measure that is too complicated, with limits imposed even at European level, and on which urgent clarifications are needed because companies are now disincentivised to invest with a horizon of just a few months. To make a difference, the thing to do is to give full force to the bonus IRES, eliminating limitations to extend coverage and audience. And finally, reactivate Industry 4.0 by endowing the plan with new financial resources. This would be a concrete act: many more companies would invest, with less time pressure, and it would make us competitive abroad'.

'Now,' concluded Orsini, 'we need to run and drastically reduce bureaucracy in order to put measures on the ground that are useful for the country's growth. We expect the government and political forces of all parties to take up this call to action, releasing the potential of Italian companies. Confindustria is ready to play its part."