(Finance) – “We ask you that the theme of craftsmanship is central to your mandate and that thanks to your commitment the craftsmanship and the micro and the small businesses can be at the center of the new institutional cycle in Brussels”. This appeal was launched by the president of the CNA, Dario Costantini, spoke with the general secretary Otello Gregorini at the meeting organized by the Confederation with Italian MEPs, held in a packed room of the European Chamber in Brussels. The Deputy Permanent Representative of Italy to the European Union, Ambassador Stefano Verrecchia, was present.
A few months after the installation of the new Parliament and on the eve of the birth of the new Commission, the CNA – strong of the 620 thousand and more subjects represented – has placed itself at the head of this authentic “silent majority” of the production system, 99 percent of the companies, cmade up of artisans and small businesses in comparison with Italian representatives in Europe.
“We are decidedly and convincingly pro-European – underlined Costantini – we have opened our offices in Brussels since the 1980s. We are part of the supranational organization SmeUnited, which brings together around 70 associations from over thirty states. And from now on I announce that we will be periodically in Brussels for events similar to this one and to keep this discussion open. Once organised, I will then ask you to participate in a sort of ‘open day’ in which you will visit a shop in your area to see up close who the artisans are and how they work”.
The president of the CNA he committed to dispelling some clichés regarding small businesses. “It is not true that they are not very innovative – he was keen to point out – Last year at our ‘Changes’ innovation award, out of around 1,300 finalist companies, at least 900 had already implemented projects using Artificial Intelligence”. Nor is it true that small businesses are not environmentally conscious. “But who do you think invented the circular economy? – he highlighted – Nothing is thrown away in the shops. The artisans recover everything they can recover, for example from the systems they replace”.
Investigating the relationship of Italian artisans and small businesses with the institutions of Brussels, the president of the CNA explained that artisans do not see them with enthusiasm, they think that they only create problems for those who work and provide jobs. Unfortunately, as the situation of the “green” transition in the automotive sector demonstrates, no one can blame them. If it is not remodeled at the very least, it will put tens of thousands of businesses out of business.
ConstantineI therefore focused on two episodes. The first was the battle, won thanks to an amendment to the Pnrr, to support the self-production of energy by companies which in our country are forced to pay much more for electricity than their competitors. The second concerns an ongoing battle. “Since 2008, 222 thousand artisan businesses have closed their doors – he noted – and entire Made in Italy sectors, productions that come to us directly from the Renaissance, risk the same end. We need young, qualified manpower. While a huge number of young Italians don’t like getting their hands dirty, and do nothing, there are those who want to learn a trade, integrate, work. With Egypt we have a project underway to prepare young locals who will be taught Italian at home and a job to carry out with us, in a business that awaits them. It is the first project in the European context of ‘professional corridors’. To make it go away definitively, a signature is missing here in Brussels. Here you are. I ask you – he concluded – to make a concrete commitment to facilitate the conclusion of this process”.