The Minister of Labor and Economic Development, Luigi Di Maio spoke at the Confcommercio assembly where, when asked by the president of Confcommercio Carlo Sangalli about the VAT increase, he replied: "I'm here to give my word that VAT it will not increase and the safeguard clauses will be defused. You will learn to know the value of our given word ”.
In his speech, Sangalli had listed the "necessary conditions for the blocking of VAT increases": budget flexibility, containment of unproductive public spending, recovery of evasion and avoidance. Because the VAT increases, which in 2019 would amount to about 200 euros each for every Italian, "would end up being a mockery, as well as the certain end of the already modest recovery prospects". According to the number one of Confcommercio, "at the basis of the 'salvific' recourse to VAT, there is a serious and widespread prejudice against internal demand" and the battle against the increases is indeed "a battle of Confcommercio", but also "A battle in favor of the whole country".
Sangalli speaks of "a courageous and vulnerable Italy", which needs a "contract for growth", as the recovery is "insufficient to oxygenate the economy because it is so small as to remain in the fence of statistics and because it is unable to give warmth and confidence in the expectations of families and businesses ".
On the contrary, it is necessary to "transform the current recovery into concrete and lasting growth, between 2 and 2,5% per year", to "mend the growing distances between the South and the rest of the country", "reduce the area of absolute poverty "," recovering to a worthy occupation many Italians who have lost it or who have never found it ": this is Sangalli's reasoning, according to which to achieve the goal it is necessary" to give continuity to a courageous path of reforms ", But exclude measures such as the minimum wage, with respect to which" we are concerned that it will end up wasting a wealth of relationships and achievements.
The consolidated history of collective bargaining in our country is at stake ”. Minister Di Maio disagrees, according to which "for the professions regulated by collective bargaining, the bargaining actors are responsible for setting the wage, but for those who are out, the minimum wage is required until national bargaining is reached" . In his speech, Di Maio instead arouses the ovation of the audience of traders on the subject of taxation: “We will abolish all tools such as the spesometer and the income meter and insert the inversion of the burden of proof. Because you are all honest and it is the state's responsibility to prove otherwise ”.
The deputy premier also addresses the crux of relations between the yellow-green government and the EU: "We care about keeping accounts, if we love Italy, and we love them, if we want to carry out economic projects we have to negotiate at the same level conditions that Italy cannot sustain, we will do it with dialogue but also by saying no ”. "The European game is a great game and we will go to those tables with dialogue but also with the utmost firmness because we are the second European manufacturing force".