The right needs a change of direction. Alberto Cirio’s liberal agenda to help Italy grow

Italy needs a centre-right that looks to the future. A coalition capable of guaranteeing security, growth and support for workers and businesses, strengthening Europe’s role and restoring young people’s confidence in their ability to build their own future. This is the challenge facing a liberal and reformist centre-right, which believes in individual freedom, in society’s capacity to generate wealth and in the central importance of work. A centre-right that, building on the significant work carried out in recent years at the helm of the country, knows how to take responsibility for its decisions, without succumbing to extremism or turning every problem into an ideological battle. Freedom is the guiding principle that holds this vision together: personal freedom, economic freedom, the freedom to work, invest, start a business and make choices. A freedom that requires clear rules and authoritative institutions.

The primary responsibility of the institutions is to ensure the safety of citizens. Anyone who attacks a police officer or vandalises other people’s property is committing a crime and must be held to account. The government was right to take firm action, even against minors: anyone capable of committing a crime must be held accountable. And those who do wrong must pay – either they themselves or their family – because it is a matter of common sense, but also of justice. While it is true, as Euripides wrote, that children cannot bear the sins of their fathers, it is equally true that parents must take responsibility for their children’s upbringing and answer for their behaviour. If a parent has not taught a child what rules are and how to respect others, it is only right that the parent should pay for the child’s mistakes. The freedom to protest is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution, and we have a duty to listen to young people’s demands; however, these cannot become an excuse for violence and lawlessness, and our solidarity with the police must always be complete and unambiguous.

Returning to a clear and practical discussion of growth, production and support for businesses is the best way to continue revitalising Forza Italia’s identity and to help the country grow, because wealth is generated solely by businesses and through work. Being president of a region affords the privilege of living immersed in real life and speaking to real people. My mechanic, fed up with yet another TV debate about benefits and income guarantees for this or that group, once said to me: ‘Enough of this talk – don’t you realise that every time you give an income to someone who doesn’t work, it’s me, the one who does the work, who pays for it? And today I just can’t take it any more.’ After all, how can you blame him? It’s a simple thought, but one that rings deeply true. A modern state must protect the most vulnerable, as President Berlusconi taught us, but it must also put people in a position to find a job, start a business and build a future for themselves. It is one thing not to be able to work – and those in this situation must be helped – but it is quite another not to want to work. I am therefore convinced that a liberal centre-right must help those who are unable to work, whilst moving beyond the welfare state mentality that has characterised certain political circles for far too many years, and the notion that simply distributing resources is enough to solve social problems. Because income comes from one thing alone: work.

It is urgent to overcome the unfair burden of double payment by eliminating the advance and final payment mechanisms that are strangling the cash flow of professionals and businesses. It is not fair that the self-employed should have to pay tax to the state in advance on future earnings, when it is not even certain whether these earnings will actually be received. Taxes should be paid on what has actually been earned: this is an act of justice, but above all a sign of trust, because the state must trust its entrepreneurs.

And with the same sense of justice, Forza Italia says no to a tax on windfall profits. Who decides when savings or profits are too high and should be taxed?

Let’s be clear: it is right that, if a particular situation has favoured one sector at the expense of others, an effort should be demanded. And indeed, the approach of dialogue with the financial market called for by Forza Italia has proved effective, securing, for example, extraordinary aid from the banks at a particular time, whilst safeguarding cooperative credit banks due to their mutualistic and local nature. However, let us not label it 'extra profit'. Normalising the term 'extra profit' is extremely dangerous because it gives the word 'profit' a negative connotation, when in fact it is a good and positive word. Above all, it stems from a view that regards a company’s success as a fault to be punished with new taxes. It is a distorted view of the economy in which the state would determine to what extent your earnings are justified.

Forza Italia was founded to cut taxes, not to raise them: lower taxes, lower taxes, lower taxes. The same logic applies to the wealth tax, which targets savings after our tax system has already taxed income – forcing you to pay twice! It is unfair, punitive and counter-educational. Two friends earn the same amount; the first spends it all, whilst the second saves it, invests it and puts it aside. At the end of the year, the state asks the second to pay a subsidy to support the first, who has squandered everything. What sort of lesson are we teaching our young people if we tell them that, after working hard and saving to build a life for themselves, we’re going to tax them on it? It is also dangerous, because it deters investment: in 1990, 12 European countries applied this tax; today there are four. France, Germany, Austria and Denmark have abolished it because it is the wrong approach.

Michele Ferrero, founder of Ferrero – with whom I have the honour of sharing my homeland – said this many years ago: work, create and give. Three simple words, to be read strictly in that order. Because it is only by working that you build a business and create prosperity, and only in this way can you help those in need. Combining economic initiative, the promotion of work and social responsibility is the path we wish to follow, creating favourable conditions for those who wish to invest and grow. This means having stable rules, predictable timelines, an administration that supports investment and a bureaucracy that helps rather than hinders.

Young people are our future. Placing our trust in them and creating the conditions so that they do not have to choose to live elsewhere, but instead find in Italy the place where they can build their lives, their families and their futures, is the aim of a centre-right that believes in tomorrow. Believing in young people means giving them the tools to study and train, and Minister Bernini is doing just that in terms of the right to and access to education, starting with the increase in beds in student halls of residence and the abolition of the intake quota for medical school – a policy which, for decades, has crushed the dreams of those who could not afford to prepare for the entrance exams with courses costing tens of thousands of euros. Our proposal to introduce a tax-free zone for the under-30s is a step in precisely this direction, aimed at stimulating youth entrepreneurship and halting the brain drain abroad.

The centre-right must continue to support families and the birth rate through concrete actions, recognising that one of the main reasons why so many young people today are choosing not to have children is financial. The difficulty of finding a home and uncertainty about the future represent significant obstacles for those who would like to start a family. This is why we must put the younger generations in a position to make this choice with greater peace of mind. In Piedmont, the ‘Una famiglia, una casa’ project is ready to launch—a major scheme due to come into effect in 2027 that will allocate 1,000 homes at 100 euros a month to young families under 35, with additional incentives for those with young children. This initiative is in line with the national government’s Housing Plan, designed to provide a concrete response to housing needs and to boost the birth rate.

To achieve these objectives, Europe is and remains the essential arena. The single market, research, infrastructure and the Union’s negotiating clout are fundamental tools for defending Italy’s interests. Support for Ukraine forms part of this vision: European security concerns stability, freedom and the ability to defend our values. Being pro-European does not, however, mean accepting every decision without debate, but rather contributing to building a fairer Europe. This is precisely what Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has done; in recent years, she has earned international credibility and a central role in Europe thanks to her undoubted personal abilities and also to the presence of Forza Italia, which – drawing strength from its membership of the European People’s Party (the main European political family) – has helped to ensure that our government is taken seriously and is seen as reliable: values that are highly prized within the European institutions.

The ecological transition must be sustainable for the environment, but also for businesses. And I am very proud that the decision to embrace new-generation nuclear energy, after years of ideological prejudice, bears the signatures of Forza Italia and Minister Pichetto. It is only by putting our companies in a position to compete with those whose energy costs are 3–4 times lower than ours that we can truly foster growth. We need the courage to continue along this path, whilst also embracing innovative mechanisms that make the most of everyone’s resources.

Piedmont, for example, is a land of mountains and water, and we were the first in Italy to ban hydroelectric concessions, providing in return an annual quota of energy for the region to be made available at capped prices to businesses that choose to set up in Piedmont or that are struggling to sustain their recovery. I believe this is a good example that should be replicated across the country.

Italy is a nation of manufacturers, and its ability to export is one of the main assets of its economy. Export figures, which are growing by 9 per cent year-on-year despite tariffs and trade wars, are proof of the strength of ‘Made in Italy’ and the effectiveness of what officials refer to as ‘growth diplomacy’. This success is the direct result of the astute strategy of our secretary, Antonio Tajani, in his role as Minister with responsibility for Foreign Trade, who has been able to enhance and systematise the entire foreign trade network: our embassies and ICE offices around the world are no longer merely institutional outposts, but genuine economic drivers serving businesses.

Not all reforms require new resources. Many depend on the willingness to eliminate unnecessary procedures. The public administration should not ask a citizen for a document it already possesses; a procedure should not involve dozens of internal steps; and a formal error that can be rectified should be allowed to be corrected.

These are matters of common sense, but all too often they are not put into practice. For a small business owner, a simpler procedure means time freed up for work. For an investor, certainty regarding timelines can make the difference between choosing Italy and choosing another country. At national level, Ministers Zangrillo and Casellati have already done a great deal to simplify outdated regulations and to make the public administration faster and more efficient. Forza Italia must continue along this path because simplification is not just a slogan: it is a state that knows how to respond to the needs of citizens and businesses.

In recent years, the centre-right coalition has demonstrated that there is a way to govern Italy with firmness, competence, trust in society and the stability that is good for the country. Our republican, liberal, reformist, pro-European and Catholic identity is a source of strength. It is from pride in our roots that we can find the strength to broaden our political action without losing sight of the values that unite us. Significant challenges lie ahead. For years, the party was guided by an extraordinary leader. Being directed by Berlusconi was considered positive, straightforward, and reassuring. Today, that guidance is no longer present, and the party has begun to chart its own course under the leadership of its secretary, Antonio Tajani, who has been credited with keeping Forza Italia alive following the passing of its president. This is a time of great responsibility, requiring us to keep our roots firmly in place while keeping our eyes fixed on the future, not least to broaden the scope of our support. I was taught that to reach a destination, you need a compass and a map to guide you there. And we have both: the compass is the Berlusconi family, which helps us to keep the path of freedom and respect for the values left to us by our president clearly in sight. The map is the one we must draw up every day as a party, and it is in the hands of a capable and experienced leader such as Antonio Tajani. A map that must be enriched by the contributions of the many resources the party now has across the country. Even the most critical ideas, if channelled within the unity of the party, can be extremely valuable.

The experience in Piedmont, where the centre-right has been in power for seven years, shows that, when there are clear objectives and mutual trust, it is possible to broaden the traditional political alliances. Here, dialogue with local civic movements, as well as with centrist forces – starting with Azione – already forms a solid and cohesive alliance within our regional government. It is a tangible opportunity that can also grow at national level, on issues where there is common ground. I come from the Langhe, and Beppe Fenoglio, describing the post-war period in a land of card players, used to say that games are won when you form teams. And if we are able to form ‘good teams’, we will be victorious in the elections, but above all we will be victorious for the country, which needs stability and balance, far removed from the extremism that a centre-right anchored in the centre is best placed to guarantee.

Broadening a coalition does not mean simply adding up votes, as we are seeing happen within the ‘broad coalition’. Rather, it means identifying shared values, building a serious and credible programme, and offering a growing number of citizens the chance to identify with a common project. Forza Italia, led by Antonio Tajani, as well as Azione, led by Carlo Calenda, and the diverse world of civic lists can be the driving forces and key players in this journey, strengthening within the centre-right the voice of a political culture that unites economic freedom, social responsibility, pro-Europeanism and the centrality of the individual. It is time to look ahead. And we must have the strength to do so together.