Confindustria's Energy Plan

44 billion € investments for new infrastructures and a halt to any veto attitude

Confindustria’s energy plan: guidelines for a national energy policy
44 billion € investments for new infrastructures and a halt to any veto attitude

Safety in the supplies, environmental protection, infrastructure development, energy efficiency and rapid bureaucratic procedures: these are the guidelines of a national energy policy illustrated in the Confindustria Energy Plan, presented in Roma this week. It is a document where the industrialists’ organization urges the new government to tackle the country’s priorities since “Italy has too long been supporting standstill policies” – said Confindustria’s General Manager Maurizio Beretta.

“We are paying hard for our failure to grow. If we had had the same results as the other EU countries, our GDP would have increased by 150 billion euros, thus enabling us to invest that amount of money in basic infrastructures.” Concerning the 20-20-20 EU targets and the Kyoto emission restrictions, Beretta said that “the problem has often been dealt with by laying the blame only on entrepreneurs, while, instead, it is patent that all the country’s sectors have their own responsibilities. Therefore, it is crucial to adopt actions in compliance with any feasible target.”

The key point emphasized on the Confindustria’s Energy Plan concerns the effort of getting over local interests and the veto’s culture, of diversifying energy sources, with a priority on nuclear power, but mainly of being able to make rapid decisions. Concerning this last aspect, France and Germany are quoted as examples of countries able to go through the whole bureaucratic procedure in one third of time taken by our country. “It is good – said Pasquale De Vita, President of Confindustria’s Energy Plan and of Unione Petrolifera (Italian suppliers’ association) – that energy policies are back to the foreground as the country really needs that.

To meet the demand and to guarantee the country the necessary supplies, the Italian energy policy needs 44 billion € investments as well as political stability. Then, De Vita addresses the government asking for “a climate in favour of investments which do not only concern our country.” “If we are not able to create the conditions to attract overseas investments, a collapse in the energy infrastructure, due to a lack of capitals, is very likely to occur.”

The industrialists’ association, then, underlines the importance of energy efficiency and of the improvements achieved in the sector: “Today we consume less energy per GDP unit because we have learnt how to save it. The measures adopted have contributed to an ongoing decrease of energy needs, thus, bringing about a 7% improvement (15 million TEP) compared to the early 90s’ figures. But, unfortunately, that did not occur in the civil and mobility sectors.”