Gentiloni: “The glass ceiling of common debt has now been broken, now it’s up to defence”

MILAN – No “reversals” are expected from the June vote. But this does not mean that the consensus around an increasingly possible confirmation of the “von der Leyen scheme” must lead Europe to relax. And to forget that the path to returning to growth at an adequate pace is still long. Because, notes the European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni from the stage of the event for 40 years of Business & Financeat Bocconi University, a recovery in consumption, even wages, is expected in the second half of the year, which will boost growth.

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But energy “continues to cost a lot” and the slowdown in trade continues to hit Europe, starting with Germany. Here are the risks. What to do then? The answer is common debt. «We have broken the glass ceiling» with Recovery, he claims. A virtuous model which – this is the exhortation – must now be transferred to the defense industrial policy strategy, a preliminary act of a broader objective: a common defense on which, the EU commissioner admits, «in the last thirty years we have not done extraordinary steps forward.”

Common debt which means common commitment. And recognition by countries of the need for these tools. Message to the Meloni government which has always looked at the Pnrr with a certain annoyance and which now, says Gentiloni, has become aware of the fact that “it is no longer a more or less suffered legacy”, but “the plan and commitment of the current government.” And the invitation to Italy to believe more in the common European strategy also involves the new Stability Pact.

«For the countries that enter the excessive deficit procedure, I assure you that the new rules are much, much better than the existing ones», reads the message to Giorgia Meloni who is looking with distrust at the arrival of the new rules next year. And the government? It is the Undersecretary for the Economy Federico Freni who says that “the only alternative to Europe is the United States of Europe”. And to relaunch the need for a common fiscal policy. «It is useless – he underlined – to continue to think we can do it alone: ​​Italy is a significant shareholder in Europe and if we want to give ourselves credibility and strength in today’s global ecosystem there are no alternatives to a strong European Union, with policies common”.

Homework must also be done at home. And here Freni indicates two priorities: the reduction of debt and the relaunch of private investments: «We need to put dry wood on the fire and not wet wood like the Superbonus». Europe is also at the center of the reflections of the executive vice president of Pirelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera, and of the former minister and banker Corrado Passera, CEO of Illimity.

«We arrive at the European elections with citizens blindfolded – says Tronchetti Provera – Europe today finds itself in the geopolitical risk of irrelevance, it does not have a common army and does not do enough for artificial intelligence, it has put 6 billion into its development, but it means zero.” Passera takes the example of the United States and the Inflation Reduction Act to explain what his recipe for change is at a European level and what challenges Brussels must face to relaunch EU action. «The federal government created the IRA in the USA, not the individual state. At the European level, the resources of individual states must also be brought together in different fields and beyond. Businesses must also be brought together. We should use this same federal strength of Europe in other sectors and to push for change.”