Italy's 30‑year low growth cost €400 billion, says CNA

The Italian Employers' Federation (CNA) told a parliamentary committee that Italy’s economy has grown only 22.4% between 1995 and 2025, far behind Germany (41%), France (57.5%) and Spain (82.9%). Over the same period, the country missed out on about €400 billion of GDP compared with the EU average and up to €700 billion versus the leading continental economies.

CNA attributes the gap to a combination of factors: public investment fell from 3.7% to 2.1% of GDP between 2009 and 2018 and was only €44 billion in 2020; excessive bureaucracy and regulatory instability; energy bills about 25% higher than the EU average; a demographic decline that saw more than 7 million people under 30 leave the labour pool (a 32% contraction); low employment rates, especially among women and youth; and persistently low productivity. The Recovery and Resilience Plan has lifted public spending to roughly 3.5% of GDP, but foreign investment remains low. CNA calls for policies that simplify administration, cut burdens and promote investment and productivity rather than focusing on the size of firms.