Traduzione en 20110716 - Il Secolo XIX

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IL SECOLO XIX 16.07.2011

regulators The European Commission should be doing more: management of the

crisis cannot be left just at the intergovernmental level.

Has the attack on Italy retreated?

We will be safe when we have convinced the market that our debt is sustainable, now

and in the medium term. Sustainability comes from the combination of rigidity and

growth.

One week ago in Genoa you asked for the measure to be approved in a few

days. Are you satisfied?

With a great deal more authority than myself, it was President Napolitano who

requested this commitment. The speed of this legislative process was a good sign of

the understanding of the dramatic nature of this time and of everyone taking

responsibility.

However, the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Draghi, has said that there

havent been enough cuts.

In reality, even the Governor has said that we have to ensure that a balanced budget

can be attained by 2014, fortunately starting with the primary surpluses in 2011 and

2012 and that the cuts have to be accompanied by a strong commitment to raising

the potential for growth of the economy. This is what I take from Draghis statements,

and I completely agree with this.

Will a minister in the bulls eye like Tremonti be able to implement this planor would it be better to hope for a transitional government?

I dont know how the situation will evolve in Parliament, and in any event, it will be

Napolitano who assesses what is best for the country. Certainly, Italy must guarantee

to Europe, to the world and to the markets that it will maintain its dual commitment to

rigidity and growth. This is also true for the government which must complete the

measure in the next legislature.

Only when faced with a crashing stock market did politicians manage to find

their sense of responsibility. You refer to a plan for rigidity and growth, but

isnt a plan like this just wishful thinking in a divided country such as Italy?

A strong plan for rigidity and growth can achieve its objectives only with extremely

widespread consensus from everyone, from businesses to social forces, to culture, and

with alliances that must involve everyone who believes in the future of Italy.

The core of the budgetary measure is a box that still has to be filled. Do you

have any suggestions?

The measure contains many interventions both in terms of rigidity and in terms of

growth. It leaves two large chapters open spending review and tax reform which

must be courageously written over the next few months. To achieve sustained and


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sustainable growth, all four growth drivers are required: business competitiveness,

social cohesion, efficiency in the national economic system and overall dynamism.

Almost everyone now agrees on what has to be done. The problem is that we are not

doing it with enough determination. Two drivers business and cohesion are working

despite everything, but we have to strengthen them. We definitely have to fix the

other two economic system and dynamism.

What are you asking for businesses?

There are a lot of proposals on the table. For example, businesses that invest in

innovation and internationalisation, entrepreneurs who plough capital into their

companies, who have the courage to carry out acquisitions and mergers should be

fiscally rewarded. We have to make it easier to create new companies and attract

more foreign investment. Lending is a fundamental element for this.

And to improve social cohesion?

We are among the countries with the strongest systems for social protection; we

were able to defuse the social security bomb; we must make the best use of the

healthcare system which has strengths and weaknesses; we can do more for families

and to aid people in re-entering the workforce. We have considerable strength in the

non-profit sector and, specifically, in social enterprises, which we must support

because they will increasingly cover the needs left unmet by the private and public

sectors.Are the economic system and dynamism the drivers that are blocked?

Yes, and we have to fix them quickly. The national economic system means, firstly,

infrastructures, where accumulated delays now amount to over 200 billion. The

Liguria region demonstrates the potential that we could trigger using ports integrated

with railways the Terzo Valico railway capacity expansion as an example and

logistics centres. Research and innovation complete the picture: in the last few days I

saw the Erzelli Scientific Park in Genoa, in which we are shareholders, and I could

physically touch the progress made in the works to create one of the leading centres

of research in Italy and possibly in Europe. But the countrys productivity also derives

from its education system, legal and security system and the correct operation of the

public administration. These are all areas requiring considerable improvements.

What do you mean by dynamism?

Dynamism of a community derives from social mobility, meritocracy (for example, we

have to eliminate all career paths based only on seniority) and the effectiveness of the

decision-making process which is our real ball and chain. Well-realised federalism at

European and national level could be a significant opportunity to unblock our country.

How?


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The issue is complex, but citizens expect us to intervene to reduce the levels in our

institutions Regional and Municipal authorities are more than enough and clarify

who is responsible for what in each decision-making area and in what time frames

they have to guarantee individuals and businesses that decisions will be made.

Because a democracy that makes no decisions is a democracy at risk.

How can the bank contribute in this scenario of growth that must be

accelerated?

Banks of the real economy, such as Intesa Sanpaolo, really feel the responsibility to

contribute to the countrys growth. We have asked our shareholders for a share capital

increase of 5 billion, to be able to cover the 100 billion additional lending

envisaged in our strategic plan. To date the amount of credit we have provided to the

country amounts to almost 500 billion. To drive infrastructures we have created

Banca BIIS. To favour social enterprises, Banca Prossima. To strengthen businesses on

financial markets, Banca IMI has consolidated its strong leadership. To accompany

businesses on international markets we now have over 30,000 professionals in over 40

countries. And we are trying to remain a territorial bank with Banca dei Territori in

every part of Italy.

In 1994, Silvio Berlusconi presented a plan which was not much different

from some of the things that you are saying. Why was he unable to achieve

it?In these last years several things have been achieved and others havent. Certainly,

our country has undergone serious difficulties in the last few years, part of which were

impossible to predict. However, if we want to identify several underlying reasons to

explain why our country has grown less than others, we can identify a lack of an

overall plan for growth, the inability to create widespread consensus around a

common objective such as growth, which is neither to the right nor the left and in too

many cases, everyone has shown a prevalence of a con approach instead of a pro

approach. Today, even more so than fifteen years ago, businesses, trade unions and

the public administration must work together to create growth. Only with growth can

we face the most serious social emergency, employment. The statistically

unemployed are only a component of the social difficulties that are being created. We

have to add the never previously employed, who are the unemployed who have

stopped looking for work, the underemployed, which includes many temporarily

employed workers, and part-timers, those stuck at university, where the numbers of

students who have failed to finish their course of study within the prescribed time has

no equal in Europe, suspended workers, such as those to which state-assisted

temporary unemployment is paid. If we have the courage to take a good look at


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reality, the difficulties caused by a lack of employment are three times, if not four

times the figures from unemployment statistics. An undefused bomb both in Italy and

Europe.

Who would you like to see as the new Governor of the Bank of Italy?

Ill give you a description: he must be skilled, with a system-wide view, international

credibility, independence and courage.

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Traduzione en 20110716 - Il Secolo XIX