High utility bills are bringing small and medium-sized Sardinian businesses to their knees. The alarm is nationwide, but in an island region, the burden is even greater in terms of extra costs.
The theme is at the heart of the 22nd edition of the "Energies and Sustainability Confartigianato High School" convention, scheduled from today until September 23 in Domus de Maria .
High energy costs mean curbed competitiveness and a growing gap with other European countries, underlines Confartigianato : "We pay 3.7 billion more than the European average, 47.4% of which is due to fiscal and parafiscal charges," explains the association's president Marco Granelli , who is calling on the Government to cut taxes.
As for the island, it is estimated that Sardinia's 95,000 small and medium-sized businesses have incurred €103 million in additional electricity costs over the European average in recent months . Higher electricity bills have impacted the regional GDP by 0.25%, placing Sardinia fourth in this dismal ranking. "We need to find solutions so that Sardinian businesses can be competitive throughout Europe," said Giacomo Meloni, president of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna .
Among those speaking today at Domus de Maria were former Prime Minister and former European Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni , former President of the Chamber Pierferdinando Casini and Sardinian Governor Alessandra Todde .
The minister
But the most anticipated speech was that of the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security , Gilberto Pichetto Fratin . From Domus de Maria, he announced that on Wednesday the Senate will definitively approve the nuclear power delegation law , which aims to have Italy's first nuclear power plant by 2035.
Where? "I have committed to presenting the legislative decrees with the ," the minister explained. "Here too, , and the business system and consumer groups will have a role in making proposals." They won't be large power plants, but "small reactors with a very different location than first- and second-generation power plants."
