It should have been a press conference on justice reform, in reality it has turned into an all-round discussion on the next challenges awaiting the Government and on the very future of the Premier, Mario Draghi.
Dragons “No reshuffles. I can find a job by myself"
The Prime Minister, answering journalists' questions about the future of the Executive, has excluding possible reshuffles after the political storm caused by the election of the Head of State: "The team is working well and moving forward", he said, reiterating that "the government's duty is to continue and face important challenges for Italians which are the immediate one of expensive energy, the less immediate but worrying one is inflation which is attacking the purchasing power of workers and eroding, even if it is not seen for now, the competitiveness of companies. Then there are the exit from the pandemic and the Pnrr which is going very well ”.
To those who asked him if there was in his future a role as federator of the centre, Draghi replied categorically: “I exclude it”. "Many politicians apply for me in many places showing extraordinary promptness - the Premier continued ironically - I would like to reassure you that if I decide to find a job after this experience, I will find a job on my own".
Dear bills: new surgery next week
The prime minister then spoke of the main economic problems of recent weeks: “For this year the EU Commission expects growth of 4,1% for Italy, higher than France and Germany. The risks are given by the price of energy, inflation and geopolitical tensions that may arise. We keep these three categories of risk in mind: the Government is reflecting on interventions in these areas, the important thing is to maintain growth, which allows us to face the high debt-to-GDP ratio, to face the markets with confidence and confidence. This is the most important thing and the government is fully committed,” Draghi explained.
"It is essential that growth is not choked by expensive energy”, said the premier, underlining that “The immediate challenge is the drop in energy”. To tackle the problem, Draghi continued, “impressive figures have been allocated, around 9,5 billion, but evidently not enough. The government will have to do another intervention that will be presented next week. The fundamental lines are “a part of support, to contain the emergency; then a more structural part, with the enhancement of energy production; then a part linked to the supply, that is to ensure the supply to the industry at a low and controlled price, therefore” intervene, for example “on storage”.
Speaking then of the increase in the spread seen in recent days, Draghi explained: “For Italy, the spread has increased by 3,33%. Spreads have increased for many European countries, almost all, not all. The increase in Italy is lower than that of many other European countries. This must not hide the fact that we are starting from a much higher base and a much higher volume of public debt. What do we do? Spending well, supervising the accounts, the debt”, said the Prime Minister.
Superbonus: "Fraud caused by few checks"
Finally, the Premier answered a question on the superbonus: “Those who thunder the most about the superbonus today, who say that these frauds do not count, that we must continue anyway, well these are some of those who wrote the law and allowed work to be done without controls. If we are in this situation it is because a system was built that provided for very few checks. And if the superbonus slows down today it is due to the seizures decided by the judiciary for fraudulent matters for 2.3 billion. But of course the sums being investigated are much, much higher." Draghi has ruled out that construction won't go ahead without superbonus.
"The government wants the mechanism to work - the Prime Minister then reassured - and the corrections should find a place in an amendment that the ministry and Parliament are working on".
The Superbonus also spoke Minister of Economy, Daniele Franco, present at the press conference. On building bonuses "further refinements can be thought of, we are thinking of tracing operations better, we could have a wider possibility within the banking system, with two or three assignments of credit".
“Everything can be done – continued the MEF number one – but stay put essential to avoid further scams which are among the greatest that this Republic has seen".
To date, "the important thing is that business resumes, that all intermediaries return to accepting requests and that the market restarts in a safer way than before, however," said Franco. “Asseveration, ex ante control by the Revenue Agency, limits on the number of credit assignments, all go in the direction of ensuring certainty for operators. So top priority to make this mechanism work but it must work in conditions of certainty that will help the system work better ”, he concluded.
Minister Franco on the future of Ita and Mps
In addition to the ok to the justice reform, during today's council of ministers the Dpcm was illustrated, signed by the presidency of the Council, the Mef and the Mise, on the privatization of Italy. "The government, at this stage, does not have a predefined plan for the company's sale times," Franco assured, adding that the paths that will be followed will be a public offer or direct sale.
The Dpcm which was illustrated in the CDM, said the minister, “starts the process of finding a partner for Ita. We will follow the usual procedures: public offer or direct sale. We don't have a schedule where we predetermine times. We have stakeholders to this operation". “One thing that the Dpcm fixes – he added – is the question of quotas: we expect that in the first phase the Government, the MEF, will maintain a minority and non-controlling quota of Ita. Quota that may be sold at a later stage, but the Government will certainly be present in the initial stage”.
The Economy Minister also spoke about the banks and the Mps dossier, ensuring that "it is in the interest of the Government and of the community to have a solid and efficient system" and "it is not up to us to interfere in the choice of private banks".
“Obviously we have a more significant interest in MPS of which the Treasury holds two-thirds. In recent days, the board of directors unanimously decided on a change in management. It is important that Mps becomes more solid and continues to develop having in mind a future that could be a partnership. It is absolutely important that it consolidates and maintains its roots and a brand that is that of the oldest European bank", concluded Franco.
