Intesa Sanpaolo and Il Foglio to give energy back to Italy

Growth, Europe, efficiency, sustainability.

At the invitation of Intesa Sanpaolo and Il Foglio, some exponents of the world of the economy discussed 'How to give energy back to Italy' in the auditorium of the skyscraper of the banking group in Turin.

This is the title chosen for the day of debate on the eve of a new reform season launched by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

“Thanks to the rebound effect - said the president of Intesa Sanpaolo Gian Maria Gros-Pietro - Italy shows a faster growth rate than other European countries. While we have to maintain this speed, the world has to change much faster than it is doing. Investments can be the push to restart growth by addressing the important challenges of climate change and the reduction of inequalities ”.

Carlo Cottarelli focused on how to shift the horizon of the PNRR from 'bad debt' to good debt, without weighing on future generations, while economist Tito Boeri focused on how the priority for the relaunch is the recovery of human capital . Tools such as the minimum wage need to be evaluated, Boeri said, while what needs reform is the citizen's income. “It does not reach many poor people - he observed - above all it is penalizing towards larger families and immigrants because the conditions it poses are such as to leave out many people”. Mezzogiorno, young people, women, are points on which we need to catch up, according to Gregorio De Felice, Chief Economist and Head of Research Intesa Sanpaolo.

An emergency shared by former minister Elsa Fornero and Veronica De Romanis, professor of Political Science at Luiss Guido Carli University. "We have invested very little in education, training including professional, basic education in certain areas - observed Fornero - I think that basic financial education is a fundamental prerequisite not only to avoid errors in the management of personal assets but a real tool of citizenship ".

Young people are the first victims of this crisis, noted Veronica De Romanis. “Growth in itself is not enough, it must be inclusive in a generational sense. Up to now we have not dealt with young people ”. Before the financial crisis of 2008, the poverty of the elderly and young people was comparable: in the following years a gap began which was accentuated with the pandemic. "Young people who had already been left behind are suffering from a composition of expenditure that is strongly unbalanced on the pension", according to De Romanis. The lost generation, as Angela Merkel called it, has become a suspended generation. “The NRR is heading in the right direction, with 1.5 billion for technical institutes and investments in school-work alternation. But it is lacking in other aspects, such as in the cost of nursery schools ”.We need a "major rethinking of our way of functioning as a country", concluded Irene Tinagli, president of the Economic and Monetary Problems Commission in the European Parliament.

In collaboration with:

Intesa Sanpaolo