Dear manager,
like the Corriere he explained at length in these days, Forza Italia has decided to respond positively to the appeal of the Head of State for institutional collaboration. It is a natural choice for us, even taken for granted, as it is taken for granted that it’s not about political support for a government we don’t approve of and a majority whose values and programs are incompatible with ours. But it is precisely from our values, which are liberal, Christian, pro-European, guarantors, that it is born for us the duty of responsibility towards the Italians and therefore of the willingness to lend a hand, from the opposition, to get Italy out of the emergency in which we find ourselves. It is even superfluous to add that this does not question our membership of the center-right, which is not only our home, a house that we founded and made grow even at the cost of great sacrifices, but which without us he could never win, much less govern. It is unthinkable, in a large European country, for a center-right government that does not have a strong liberal character.
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Historical problems
Instead, it is a question of being aware of the fact that Italy is in the midst of a dramatic crisis, a health and economic crisis without equal at least since the war. It is an emergency situation that concerns the whole world, but which in Italy is grafted onto a series of historical problems, structural weaknesses and inequalities, unresolved contradictions. Simplifying, the situation is this: those who are already guaranteed – employees, public employment – somehow continue to be guaranteed, at least for the moment, in this crisis. Those who were not guaranteed before, self-employment, merchants, artisans, professionals, small and very small entrepreneurs, VAT numbers, contract workers, today risk being left to themselves. The anger, the pain, the desperation that we see in the eyes of many – who see the activity of a lifetime, the sacrifices made, the hope of a future for themselves and their children – are feelings that I not only share, but they require concrete and urgent answers.
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Healing the disparity
I do not want to create misunderstandings: I do not think at all that employees are privileged. The protections they enjoy are sacrosanct, the result of a historical evolution of decades, of struggles and sacrifices that deserve absolute respect. The vast majority of them work hard and seriously, in the public and private sectors. As an entrepreneur I have had thousands of collaborators and I am well aware of the extraordinary value they represent for a company. Precisely for this however there cannot be two Italies, one that is saved, the other – that of self-employment – that has to fend for itself, or is left to sink. Also because one without the other does not hold up in the long run. What we ask the government and the majority is to heal this disparity, guaranteeing self-employment, professionals, traders, artisans, VAT numbers, all the necessary protection, not one-off but in a structural way. IS one of the conditions for voting together on the next budget “deviations”.
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Awarding compensation
This is achieved in various ways, first of all the fiscal white semester: the suspension of all payments to the State for these categories at least until March 31, 2021. But of course this is not enough, for those who have lost all or most of their work. Our proposal is to assign compensation, equal to an important portion of the income declared in the previous year, for the months of forced inactivity or severe reduction in activity. A protection similar to that rightly assigned to employees who lose their jobs or who are placed on layoffs.
There’s more. About 2 million freelancers have been registered in the private pension funds and in the separate Inps management the only VAT numbers excluded from the May grant and, therefore, also from its reissues in the recent “refreshment decrees”. For them, a significant indemnity must be guaranteed by the end of this year, in line with the lost turnover, on a flat-rate basis.
How is all this financed? Of course unfortunately in debt. Unfortunately, because we are putting it at the expense of future generations. But it is a “good” debt not only for reasons of equity, but above all because if we do not all come out of this dramatic phase together, the future may not exist for anyone.
To achieve all this, we are ready to take on the responsibility of working, for the good of the country, with a government very far from us. I would like the entire opposition to do so, without confusing roles with the majority.
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November 22, 2020 (change November 22, 2020 | 07:19)
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