Minister Daniele Franco and Prime Minister Mario Draghi
In recent days, the Minister of Economic Development, Giancarlo Giorgetti, had anticipated: on the refreshment points we will pass from the analysis of the loss of turnover to that of the budget loss. “The open question is whether to introduce changes” in the forthcoming support for businesses, explained the Prime Minister during the press conference on the reopening: “The criterion adopted in the first decree is that of turnover but it has caused many perplexities for various reasons. The ministry is thinking of adding, in addition to the turnover, too a criterion concerning profit, the taxable amount, in order to see exactly the subjects most affected by the pandemic ».
The next decree for the supports
«The next decree will have the turnover inside, for a whole series of categories, but there will also be the other criterion of profit. Of course – adds Draghi – you can’t have everything: with turnover, times are very fast, with other parameters, times are extended by three or four weeks ». Because we have to wait for the budgets. Even if you are thinking of a solution: the down payment could be given automatically, replicating the previous scheme, and the balance would be made on the balance sheet data, then re-measured on any losses.
The differences in the times
Just to highlight the time difference between the two different criteria, with regard to the first support decree, Prime Minister Draghi wanted to highlight how it was “marked by the speed of payments: from March 30 to today two billion have been paid in the first week and in the second one billion, but the payments are not yet finished ». Draghi, then, also dwelt on the logic of these interventions, which are carried out along two directions: the first, of a humanitarian nature, is a support for people, for those who have lost everything through no fault of their own; the second is to prevent businesses from closing due to lack of liquidity or support or being bought by someone who shows up suddenly. There will certainly be industrial or service sectors that with the changes that are taking place will no longer have a market, in which case it is a question of assisting the transition. But today the first two considerations prevail ».
Support for those who have lost everything and for businesses that close
The logic of the interventions that the government intends to develop, Draghi clarified, is of “two types”: a “humanitarian” support to people for those who have lost everything and through no fault of their own; another serves a prevent companies from closing or being bought by someone due to lack of liquidity which shows up suddenly. “It’s happening,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi said at a press conference. “There will certainly be industrial sectors that with changes in consumer behavior and technologies” will no longer have a market. ” In that case, the government will have to intervene and participate in the “transition” of companies.
Draghi: “Debt must be good” (that is, it must be invested well)
“It is a bet on good debt – said Draghi – we are doing, we have done and we will do debt, the point is that it must be invested well”. And on the same theme of public spending, he added: “The deficit of almost 12% is a bet on growth we are aiming for thinking about investment plans, the Pnrr (National Recovery and Resilience Plan, ed), we aim for sustainable growth. If growth is what we expect, we will win this bet without even a corrective maneuver in the years to come ». The new deviation from the public accounts, it is worth remembering, is 40 billion euros, which will be used to provide new aid to businesses, families and workers through the “support” decrees.
Public accounts
«The point is to be able to produce growth, that is the criterion for getting out of high debt. If the situation of the level of the debt / GDP ratio were judged with yesterday’s eyes it would be very worrying – said Mario Draghi – Today’s eyes are completely different. The pandemic justified, made the creation of debt legitimate, inspired the behavior of the Brussels rules, which are in fact suspended, and informed the monetary policy of the ECB. Today’s eyes see interest rates that were at 3% and today they are 0.5% on the issuance of public debt – explained the premier – “No one, in all the conversations made, has aired that the rules can return to force as they were, is not expected in a complex discussion, which will last all next year. The other European countries are not dissimilar from us, there will be a solution of common sense, a commitment to a decrease in the debt / GDP ratio without compromising the country’s economy “, underlined Draghi.
“Alitalia flies with its wings”
On the Alitalia dossier, Mario Draghi was lapidary: the government is ready to support it and create “good debt”, only if it then goes ahead with its own wings, “it must be autonomous”. Debt is “good”, said Draghi, only if “a reform of society is carried out such that it will boast with its own wings and will not need to be continuously subsidized as it has been in the last 20 years”. The company must be “autonomous”, while the debt is bad if it translates into “a subsidy without a sustainable business plan”.
Recovery, Draghi: “57 commissioners for 57 works”
Draghi clarified that with the Minister of Infrastructure Giovannini, “57 commissioners for 57 infrastructural works” have been appointed. «These – explained the Prime Minister – were works already financed and deliberated, waiting to be implemented. The minister has prepared a time schedule showing the exact opening date of the construction sites ». Draghi spoke of “simplified” rules for the procurement of works to be carried out with European funds from the Recovery Fund. In addition, he explained, there will be funds to achieve the high speed between Salerno and Reggio Calabria.
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