“The Minister of Economy will respond by providing the necessary clarifications. We are not worried, it is a necessary dialogue with Brussels which we will not shy away from". On the sidelines of the annual meeting of Confersercenti, the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte he is calm about the concerns expressed by the Commission on the effects of the Italian public debt maneuver.
In a previous passage of his speech on stage, he seemed to address the community institutions directly, when he claimed that "Italy is no longer a risk factor for the world economy and that the reduction in the spread, which took place in the second half of 2019, will allow us to save up to 18 billion euros in interest expenses over the next three years, equal to approximately 630 euros on average for each taxpayer. The downward trajectory of the yields on our government bonds - he underlined - will therefore allow us to start a serious process of reducing the ratio between public debt and GDP".
"I have not suffered any blackmail and I have not taken any step back. We have instead taken two steps forward ". The premier Giuseppe Conte he wanted to respond to comments on the latest news regarding the measures on the use of pos and cash. "I have always stated that we are talking about a plan to modernize the country to reduce bureaucracy and we are looking for incentives through the use of electronic money to start a virtuous path with all citizens".
The meeting with Luigi Di Maio"We met, it was a moment to discuss the developments of the last few days. He had been in Washington, we haven't met for some time, it was an opportunity to discuss all issues. Between me and him there were no particular tones".
However, Conte stated some differences: "Yesterday's comparison reassured me because although there may be some varieties of accents, slight different sensitivities, there is unity of purpose. In the end, the important thing is the synthesis, the individual declarations are not important. The positions that mature overall and therefore the political synthesis are important. On this there is unity of positions and therefore we will all be determined to implement this plan and therefore the contents of the maneuver and the tax decree".
On the Flat Tax the premier was cautious: "We want to confirm that favorable tax regime because we are talking about a 15% rate for all the people of small VAT numbers and young and freelance professionals. To do this we are verifying, we are evaluating the Mef proposals. We want to prevent the position of these taxpayers from worsening. The proposal to de-tax salary increases is being studied. It is a measure that has an economic cost. When we free up resources, it is a maneuver that we can also consider as useful in favoring the growth of domestic demand".
Spadafora from Omnibus commented on Conte's statements: "The fact that the Prime Minister has become familiar with his role is good for everyone because he has shown that he is not there only because indicated by the M5s, indeed even to say of our detractors he has shown that he is master of the subject. But the consensus he has today, very high, comes from the fact that he has maintained a certain balance, a certain equidistance from the political forces".
“The leader are our activists and our programs - explained the pentastellato exponent - but the political leader is Luigi Di Maio and there is no discussion on this. I believe that if Conte decided or aspired to also perform a function of leader of the M5s would be wrong for two reasons. First, because they are two completely different things and people would not understand this passage; then it would create great confusion in the government structure, putting this government at risk ”.
Spadafora assured that Conte “is doing his role well, but he himself said he is not interested in pursuing his political career. I don't even see him, as I know him: I find him an excellent prime minister, a good administrator of the government, but I don't see him as a political leader taking to the streets and campaigning ".
Yet he has consent. "It is a consensus that comes from being equidistant - explains Spadafora - outside the political arena, there are the political forces that, before reaching the Council of Ministers, resolve a series of issues for the president, because the president, being third, has a life of a a little easier than political leaders "