Dear director, if in Europe they make you dance, in Italy Giorgia Meloni must dance alone to govern. With Paris and Berlin irritating us, Brussels giving us a hand so that the PNNR is redesigned in the area of energy and telecommunications, the Prime Minister himself launches himself on the track after having in fact removed two of his more popular ministers, Adolfo Urso, from the Ministry of Business, and that good man from Energy Security and the Environment, Pichetto Fratin. Urso let him play alongside Alessio Butti in telecommunications, but the subject is so difficult that no viable solution has been found. Meanwhile, Tim goes “down” due to increased interconnection with foreign countries, or so they say, and “fixes” upgrades to customer-owned Timvision decoders. Leading MEF and Palazzo Chigi executives had already slipped away from the prepared table: presumably because they did not see fit for Urso’s chief of staff, Federico Eichberg, who in his life dealt more with Opus Dei than telephone networks. Meanwhile, the guerrilla war between Italian and French shareholders and funds from all over the world continues.
On energy, Meloni demonstrated awareness of the importance of the subject by convening a summit with the CEOs of Eni, Snam, Enel and Terna, in addition to an infinity of ministers, mandarins and employees (too many). The most interested, Giancarlo Giorgetti, Minister of Economy, was connected by video call. With her style of government, Giorgia took the chair and, between looks and laughter, put everyone in line.
He goes round and round, it seems that the only one he really considers is Raffaele Fitto, Minister of European Affairs and the PNRR. During the summit, the Premier also took advantage of the confrontation between the CEO of Eni Descalzi and that of Snam Venier over who has “the longest gas pipe”, in the sense of how long it takes to build it.
The summit lacked two interlocutors, evidently fundamental only on paper: the specialist of the sector as well as the ex-minister Roberto Cingolani and, given the relevance of the subject, the “spinning top” Dario Scannapieco who, after the recent departure from the Treasury The general manager Alessandro Rivera feels water in her throat. There seems to be a confidential document from the ECB circulating between the Bank of Italy’s research office and the secretariat of the friendly undersecretary “gunman” Fazzolari, according to which the Italian CDP model is no longer competitive for the current context, thus reducing the role from Banco da Via Goito to a mere capital increase factory. Starting with the next one from Open Fiber, now on the gas cylinder.
The study highlights the enormous difference, in terms of effectiveness and impact on the economy, of the Italian Cdp in relation to the French Caisse des dépôts et consignations (Cdc) and the German Kfw. The total equity of the French CDC is three times greater than that of the CDP, despite the fact that the Italian industrial fabric has a higher value than the French one. About 800 billion euros difference, more or less four times the Pnrr.
And yet, in Italy we only talk about the latter, leaving out what else Cassa Depositi e Prestiti could do if only it were linked to the banking system (incidentally, what happened to the internal task force created with a revolutionary vision by a Scannapieco barely arrived to make the most of the opportunities granted by the Pnrr?).
Until now, however, a «bureaucratic» and Risk Management approach has prevailed, as well as the fact that Invitalia has focused only on the South reveals a lack of «responsible proactivity». The French CDC includes the Banque des Territoires and the BPI (Banque Publique d’Investissement), of which there are no traces in the Italian CDP, which even has private shareholders in its structure. In addition, there is no attention to the energy issue and the digital transition, for which 300-400 billion businesses are missing, new industrial lines, with new jobs.
Even the last document produced by the Cdp, «Plano Estratégico 2022-2024», is unfortunately just a school power point that reveals the lack of ambition.
The real gap in relation to foreign counterparts is this: an outdated business model and qualified management, but “inadequate” for the skills that would now be needed. One example among all: no one has ever said how many financial resources are dedicated to “energy saving” by companies, large and small, and by families. Ridiculous values compared to the 50 billion per year of interventions for at least three years that the market would need, considering that energy savings are worth as much as supply. But above all laughable compared to the German Kfw which, in 2022 alone, issued 10 billion green bonds.
Finally, both CDC and KFW built their dimension of strategic assets dedicated to their countries’ economies without resorting to the “udder” of the postal circuit. President Meloni certainly has at heart the relaunch of “native” recruiting of greater importance to the country’s growth. And also the new director general of the Treasury, Riccardo Barbieri, who will take a look at the CDP as soon as the Equity Department is resolved. Scannapieco, after sniffing the air, now tries to get back to Bei. With him, the main leaders return to Luxembourg (all men, however, with one exception and with all due respect for gender disparity) who, at the time, were seconded by the European Investment Bank: Francesco Pettenati and Micaela Celio (both CEO staff) , Marco Santarelli (in charge of the Communication, External Relations and Sustainability Department), Massimo D’Eufemia (in charge of European Affairs, but who is rarely seen in Brussels) and Paolo Lombardo (in charge of the International Cooperation and Financing for Development Department, the most recent arrival of the Bei colleagues). In hindsight, the question arises: given the results obtained, is this whole mass exodus from Luxembourg really necessary? Giorgia Meloni has already given an answer. Rivera teaches.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
