"The future of at least 20 thousand construction companies and over 100 thousand jobs is at risk" denounce the associations of the sector

"The government must stop. Just thinking of blocking a recovering economy is very serious, to do so would be a disaster". Thus, Sergio Ventricelli president of Confimi Edilizia - the Construction category of Confimi Industria, which includes about 3 thousand companies, from general contractors to specialists - in the aftermath of the green light of the Council of Ministers to the decree law that approved the block on the sale of building bonus credits. "My Confederation - continues Ventricelli - has always respected the work of the institutions, showing attention to safeguarding a dutiful balance between the parties, but we represent first of all the companies, so we cannot remain silent about such an unfair choice, which decrees the total stop of the discount on the invoice and the assignment of the credit , leaving only the route of tax deduction. In addition, as if all this were not enough, it was also decided to prohibit public administrations from being able to buy stranded loans, a new initiative that was having a certain following".

According to Confimi Edilizia "to fix the problems caused by others, you decide to inflict a mortal blow on the construction sector, which in the last two years has made a fundamental contribution to record GDP growth? I am stunned. Probably it is not really understood that here we play on the lives of workers and families and jeopardize the future of at least 20 thousand construction companies and over 100 thousand jobs. If it really happens, there will be a meltdown," observes Ventricelli.

Claudio Corrarati, president of CNA Trentino Alto Adige, speaks of "cold water shower for many small and medium-sized enterprises, including in our region", aligning himself with the words of the national president of CNA and defines what is happening as "a nightmare".

According to Corrarati "at national level there are 40 thousand of our companies that now risk closure, of these dozens also on our territory. There is talk of about 300,000 families involved in Italy. We need to find a solution and do it even in a short time".

The block decided by the government with the intention of safeguarding public finances (to date it is estimated a financial burden for each citizen of 2,000 euros) will apply only to future options, namely those starting today, Friday 17 February. As far as the past is concerned, however, everything remains confirmed, while, for the works in progress, a derogatory discipline is foreseen. The decree confirms the prohibition for local authorities to purchase loans from cash-strapped construction companies.

"We are not safeguarding a sector that has already paid a lot in recent months for continuous changes. Companies that, among other things, are paying dearly for having respected a law of the State. Not to mention that everything will also result in the blocking of the much-invoked energy transition", it is stressed.

"The decree approved yesterday by the government represents a threat to the whole Superbonus operation. With this measure, the word puts an end to the sale of tax credits and many construction sites already stopped for some time could be closed definitively", says the president of Unimpresa, Giovanna Ferrara, commenting on the decree law.

"We had suggested involving the regions and other local authorities so that they could buy bank credits, but the government said no, probably for political reasons. With regret, we take note of these decisions which, however, run the risk of bankruptcy of 25,<> small and medium-sized Italian enterprises. The risk we feared a few days ago remains intact," says Ferrara.

According to the Study Center of Unimpresa, "the new rules do not solve the problem of about 15 billion euros of stranded tax credits, an issue that is blocking 90,000 construction sites: a dangerous situation that puts 25,000 companies, almost all SMEs, at risk of bankruptcy, with the consequent loss of 130,000 jobs". And they explain: "This situation was created mainly due to the reached fiscal capacity by the banks, equal to 81 billion euros, while the total 'turnover' of bonuses for construction reached 110 billion, a figure much higher than the 72 billion initially estimated. The Superbonus alone is worth 61 billion, 25 billion more than the initial estimates: it means that the forecast error corresponds to a deviation of 70%".