Giorgia Meloni in Assolombarda, the Prime Minister's speech coming soon. LIVE

"Italy does not sit in Europe to always say yes. Italy is one of the countries that founded Europe and has the right and duty to say when things are not right." This was stated by the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in her speech to the General Assembly of Assolombarda, the association of industrialists of the metropolitan city of Milan and the provinces of Lodi, Monza, Brianza and Pavia. "Italian growth is weak, but the economy has withstood the shock wave. We must intervene on investments", observes the prime minister, specifying that "the data for the first six months of this year tell us that growth for 2026 can reach 1%, in line with the main European economies, and once again, above forecasts". Then, speaking of the high cost of energy, he adds: "If we don't build long-term, structural responses we risk remaining at the mercy of the emergency."

"I want to thank you on behalf of the nation for your contribution. If Italy is strong, authoritative and admired in the world, the credit goes above all to the companies and their workers, it goes to those who try not to settle because in an increasingly fast-paced world there risks being no space for those who retreat and those who hesitate. The credit goes to those who know how to transform uncertainty into a decision, ambition into a goal, crisis into an opportunity - he added -, and to those who are not satisfied", said Meloni at the beginning of his speech in Assolombarda. Then he added: "An industry that wants to grow certainly needs willpower, but it also needs a State that accompanies it, that considers it an ally and that does not instead consider it a mere subject to be taxed or even hindered." And he concluded: "The Government will be there when needed and will let you work, because sometimes the best help to those who produce is not to get in the way. Continue to do what you do best, to dare, to build, to believe in this extraordinary adventure called Italy".

"The data for the first six months of this year tell us that growth for 2026 can reach 1%, in line with the main European economies, and once again above the forecasts - Meloni then said - Because we know, we Italians are often underestimated. It's just that when the European Union underestimates us we're used to it, but when we are systematically underestimated by our bodies it's a bit sad, but that's how it is".

Then speaking about Europe, Meloni said: "On the multiannual financial framework, we also want new priorities to be financed and certainly among these priorities there is competitiveness, but we cannot seek resources on competitiveness by cutting on cohesion or agricultural policy, because cohesion and agricultural policy are a precondition of what we are trying to build in Europe. Competitiveness cannot be built if the territories do not all grow and run at the same speed and strategic autonomy cannot be defended if we are cutting on the only strategic autonomy that we have in Europe, which is that of what we eat". According to the Prime Minister "so things must move together and Italy, as you know, has been and is in the forefront on this too, we have created a document, we have promoted a document, Friends of Cohesion, it is called, which has been signed by 22 out of 27 member countries. There are many other battles that with our weight and our common sense we can carry forward".

"Europe must take note that the crisis in Iran, the closure of Hormuz, the instability of the Red Sea are driving up the costs of energy, raw materials and transport and above all they are fueling an inflation that is beyond our control, but which weighs heavily on families, production systems and public finances. Europe cannot fail to take this into account: when we approved the national budget plans we did so based on a planned inflation of 1.8% but today inflation is much higher and in Italy, as in other nations, an important part of spending automatically adjusts to inflation by law", said the prime minister on the Italian proposal for flexibility on the part of Europe to deal with inflation. "It means billions of euros of additional spending without the government having made any new decisions and for reasons that do not depend on us: yet that spending occupies the space that European rules allow us and takes it away from everything else, from businesses, from investments, from growth - he observed - Minister Giorgetti discussed it at the Ecofin a few days ago, I will personally propose the issue again to the European Council which is scheduled for this Thursday and Friday: it is a simple proposal, of common sense, as well as of responsibility".

"In recent years the government has allocated over 60 billion euros to protect Italians from high energy prices, but it is an emergency management and long-term structural responses are needed", Meloni then underlined, recalling among the measures adopted the reduction of charges on the bill, the elimination of the differential between the price of Italian and European gas, and tools such as gas release and energy release. "When tensions in the Middle East and along the Gulf routes caused fuel prices to skyrocket - he recalled - the government intervened with a cut in excise duties, mobile excise duties and the abolition of car tax on some cars, and made an appeal to the main energy companies to control prices, to which several companies responded positively". Then Meloni also recalled that the power installed with renewables "has grown by almost 40%" and that the national production of oil and gas has been relaunched, because "it doesn't make much sense to buy them thousands of kilometers from here when we can extract part of it in Italy". Then he added: "With the bill decree we had started a discussion with Brussels to reduce costs for families and businesses. With the Commission we are working to build a mechanism that allows us to contain the price of gas used to produce electricity and the discussion is at an advanced stage". And again: on nuclear power, "the useful conditions have been created to start a path that has an ambitious and necessary objective, that is, to achieve the first energy production from new nuclear power within the next decade, and we will continue to work".

For the Transition Plan 5.0 "Minister Urso, whom I thank, is about to publish a new circular to further simplify the processes", the prime minister then said. "And I invite all of you to report any useful operational proposal that can make this tool increasingly effective. It is in our interest as well as yours and it is essential to make a measure that is already successful work better" he added.

For Meloni, governance of artificial intelligence is "urgent", but "it must be addressed at a global level. Italy has put the issue at the center of its presidency of the G7, calling on Pope Francis to talk about it, and we look with interest at all the initiatives that go in this direction". Then he continued: "The national law on AI has made 1 billion euros of investments available for companies developing artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enabling technologies." "A first signal to say that Italy is not left behind and to which we now want to add another - he added - I consider it common sense to find a way to also promote investments in software used through cloud contracts. So I want to announce that with Minister Giorgetti we are working to introduce a fiscal measure in the Budget Law to facilitate investments for this type of goods".

The Prime Minister then also spoke about the Mattei Plan: "It is easy to see opportunities in the United States or in the Gulf, more difficult to see them in Africa. But we are talking about the youngest continent on the planet and among the markets that will grow the most in the coming decades. Being there means not leaving to others an opportunity that can above all be ours".