De Rosa: "Italy is going backwards. The Green Deal needs to be rethought."

The numbers speak for themselves: Italian industrial production continues to decline. According to Istat, May saw a 0.7% decline compared to the previous month, a 0.9% decline year-on-year . This isn't just a decline: it's an unequivocal sign that the entire national manufacturing sector is experiencing profound structural difficulty .

This was stated by Cavaliere Domenico De Rosa , CEO of the SMET Group, one of the main players in logistics and intermodal transport in Europe. " The data ," De Rosa continues, " is made up of very clear elements: consumer goods, intermediate goods, and capital goods are declining. This means that end consumers are cutting back on spending, companies are slowing production, and investments are being suspended or postponed. It is the thermometer of a contracting system, which is struggling to generate internal demand and guarantee production stability."

Amid this bleak picture, the only sector showing growth is energy . "But be careful," warns the Cavaliere , "that signal must not mislead: it is an artificial wave, fueled by an energy transition driven more by abstract ideologies than by technical-economic considerations ."

Cavaliere De Rosa then issues a warning to European institutions: " The Green Deal , as it was conceived, is not a solution, but a problem. It has become a punitive regulatory framework for industry, a noose around its neck that tightens every day. The top-down environmental targets, the rigid constraints, the forced pursuit of decarbonization without taking economic reality into account are turning Europe into hostile territory for businesses. And Italy, already suffering from structural weaknesses, is one of the first victims of this short-sighted approach ."

According to the Cavaliere, while Europe is bogged down in regulations and certifications, the world's major economic powers are doing something else: " The United States is investing heavily in manufacturing and reindustrialization; China continues to oversee its production chains with uncompromising strategic clarity . We, on the other hand, are dismantling our production and logistics capacity piece by piece, in the name of a sustainability that too often exists only on paper ."

The logistics sector, observes Smet's CEO, is one of the sectors most affected by this situation: " Less loaded trucks, emptier warehouses, rising operating costs, and increasingly tight margins . Transport lines are losing efficiency, risks are increasing, profitability is declining. Those who work in this sector, and who understand its complexity, know full well that all this is unsustainable. We've been saying it for a long time: logistics is a mirror of the economy. If the flow of goods stops, the country stops ."

For Cavaliere De Rosa, the real paradox lies in the exploitative use of the word "sustainability" : " We're all over the place with this term, but meanwhile we're imposing rules that only impoverish the productive fabric. A true transition doesn't destroy the industrial base on which the economy rests, but rather strengthens it. And yet, today, businesses are left alone to face a regulatory and financial tsunami that's bringing them to their knees ."

The final message is a call to politicians: " We can no longer afford to pretend nothing is happening. The Green Deal must be completely rethought , placing the real economy at its center: industry, employment, transportation, and competitiveness. We don't need green utopias that wipe out jobs and expertise. We need serious plans, real resources, and a modern, non-punitive industrial vision ."