Insularity, Sardinian artisan businesses: "We no longer want to be isolated"

“Sardinia needs a 'drawbridge' that connects it to the rest of Italy; this can only be built starting from the demolition of isolation to arrive at the recognition of the condition of insularity ”.
This was stated by the president of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna, Maria Amelia Lai, speaking of the beginning, tomorrow at the Constitutional Affairs Commission of the Chamber, of the process for the recognition of the island's insularity.
"We want to remain isolated but we no longer want isolation - he explained -, we no longer want to remain prisoners of gaps, such as those linked to credit, competitiveness, bureaucracy, infrastructure, energy, transport and productivity, which they force the medium, small and micro enterprises of Sardinia to trudge with respect to other Italian, European and Mediterranean competitors ".
According to the trade association, those wishing to do business on the island must face obvious disadvantages in addition to competitors operating in the rest of Italy. Disadvantages for infrastructures and services weigh on the daily management of businesses, especially small ones, which in Sardinia number over 100,000. Among the nodes are the absence of methane, the difficulties of territorial continuity but also of internal mobility and the cost of fuel. All elements that undermine the competitiveness of the entrepreneurial system,
“After so many years of battles and demands - continued Lai -, the first green light from the Senate a few weeks ago was the first, concrete step forward that should lead us to overcome some of the inconveniences linked to insularity. Finally the need for a better condition than the one it has lived for seventy years now begins to be recognized on the island, not the request for privileges or shortcuts, but only the need to have the same opportunities for growth, development, equal rights and opportunities that other companies in other contexts have always had. Entrepreneurs do not want welfarism: they only ask to be enabled to compete on equal terms with the rest of the European and Mediterranean realities ”.
“As an entrepreneurial association - concluded the president - we will fight until the recognition of insularity is written in the Constitution. Therefore, teamwork is necessary to be able to consolidate a high level of attention on the issue. We are, and will be in the future, alongside the Committee in the actions it will be able to carry out and in all the activities that will be useful to sensitize businesses and citizens ”.