JUNE 1, 2007

Montezemolo says no to a political career

There has been much talk in the last couple of days suggesting that Luca di Montezemolo may be a candidate for the role of Prime Minister in Italy. The Ferrari and FIAT boss has denied any plan to do that, saying that he has no intention to ever go into politics. He is currently head of the national employers federation, known as Confindustria and made a speech last weekend which many observers saw as the start of a political campaign. In the speech Montezemolo said that Italy needs radical change if it is to compete with the rest of Europe and in the global market place. He attacked the political classes in Italy for being afraid of change and he called for increased powers for the executive, in order to get more done, and changes in the structure of government to save money and make progress easier as too many projects become bogged down in red tape. Montezemolo advocated that some of the public services should be opened to competition and that Italy should be run as a market economy.