The head of the Franco-Italian-American multinational group, Peugeot-Citroën and Fiat Chrysler, recently declined an invitation from the President of the Chamber of Deputies, provoking the reaction of the President of the Italian Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, who criticized him for having “disrespected Parliament”, while MPs described this refusal as an “insult to the institutions”, according to local media.
The day after this political-economic turmoil, Ms. Meloni indicated, during a program on the public channel RAI, that “we are a parliamentary republic, this is a lack of respect for Parliament”.
Reacting, the Stellantis group indicated that Mr. Elkann had spoken during the afternoon of the same day by telephone with the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Lorenzo Fontana, and that he assured him of his “respect” for Parliament and its openness to dialogue with all institutions, as has always been the case for the group in all the countries where it is present, and first and foremost Italy.
In a written response, Mr. Elkann justified his decision not to honor the invitation by the intervention of the general director of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, a few days before, before the same commission. “As there has been no update” since Mr. Tavares’ hearing before the commission, “we have nothing to add to what has already been illustrated by the CEO,” he said. specified in his missive.
During his meeting with the elected representatives of this commission, Mr. Tavares highlighted the problems encountered by the group in Italy, in particular the high price of energy which increases production costs, calling on legislators to make its vehicles accessible to through incentives and subsidies.
Furthermore, the chairman of the board of directors of Stellantis, in his response, wanted to ensure that the discussion between the multinational and the Italian authorities continues within a working group set up within the supervisory ministry.
While Rome insists that the group meet its objective of producing one million cars per year in Italy by 2030, Stellantis asserts that production in the Peninsula depends on demand and that, faced with expensive cars, the State should provide incentives.
However, the government plans, to redress its deficit accounts, to reduce by 4.6 billion euros the subsidies intended for the green transition of the automobile sector planned between 2025 and 2030.
The Stellantis group, born in 2021 from the merger between Peugeot-Citroën and Fiat Chrysler, built more than 751,000 vehicles in Italy last year, while for 2024, the unions are counting on less than 500,000 units.
While waiting to resolve this umpteenth disagreement, the rag continues to burn between Palais Chigi and the global car manufacturer.
