Urso crashes into the Polish Alfa Romeo “Milano” (praised by Repubblica…)
Urso's attack, Repubblica's defense. The Milan case of Alfa Romeo holds sway in politics and in the newspapers…
Probably irritated at having lost the Chinese of Chery (they will go to build electric cars in Spain) and therefore aware of having lost part of their bargaining power in that now eternal table (it was opened last summer) with Stellantis which took the form of an arm wrestling match, the Minister of Business Adolfo Urso must have remembered that his ministry was renamed "Made in Italy" ( Mimit , in short) and attacked the group led by Carlos Tavares for the allegedly misleading name of the new Alfa Romeo “Milano”, the first electric SUV from the manufacturer that brings the snake to the brand.
WHAT URSO SAID ABOUT ALFA ROMEO MILANO
“A car called Milano cannot be produced in Poland”, was Urso's lash. Who continued by evoking rules and prohibitions so as to clear the field of doubts that it was just a polemical joke: "The Italian law that defined Italian Sounding forbids it, a law that provides that one must not give indications that mislead the consumer. They would be fallacious indications explicitly linked to geographical indications. Therefore a car called Milano must be produced in Italy, otherwise a false indication is given which is not permitted by Italian law".
THE LAW EVOCATED BY URSO
Urso refers to a regulation introduced into our system during the last days of 2003 and which allows the prosecution of all those products, mostly in the food sector, which boast of presumed Italian characteristics in order to sell, but are produced elsewhere.
A law that protects Made in Italy above all superficially, given that these are products sold mostly by foreign companies abroad (an Italian would hardly fall into error, and in any case they would not be able to compete on a qualitative level, given that normally these are foods that are very different from the originals) in territories where our jurisdiction does not reach.
In any case, the rule evoked by Urso against the use of Milan for Alfa Romeo states : "The use of signs, even if the foreign origin and provenance of the products or goods is indicated, constitutes a false indication, figures, or anything else that may lead the consumer to believe that the product or goods are of Italian origin including the fallacious or misleading use of company trademarks pursuant to the regulations on deceptive commercial practices".
END OF THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN URSO AND STELLANTIS
It will now be the lawyers who will eventually rack their brains to understand whether the rule can be applied to the specific case. In reality, several doubts already emerge from reading the text. Also because, to be precise, Alfa Romeo lost its Milanese character some time ago. The latest models produced, the Giulia and the Stelvio, were produced in the Piedimonte San Germano factory, near Cassino in the province of Frosinone, so even if it were made in Italy one could argue that the name "Milano" would still be misleading. As if to rename a line of glasses created in a glass factory in Gela “Burano”.
But, regardless of the fact that Adolfo Urso and therefore the State really want to bring a lawsuit in defense of Italianness against Stellantis (remote hypothesis), the exponent of the executive's outburst leaves it clear to what level they have reached, or rather fallen to , relations with Carlos Tavares accused, it is well known, of having orchestrated a rapid disengagement from the country following the merger with the French of PSA.
FIATS PRODUCED ABROAD
An accusation which for once sees the Meloni government and the unions aligned on the same side, alarmed by the significant reductions taking place within the Italian workforce , a direct consequence, claims the executive, of the choice to relocate elsewhere the Fiat models once produced in our country like the Algerian 500 , the Serbian Panda , the Moroccan Topolino and the Polish 600 . And, indeed, the Alfa Romeo Milano made in Poland.
REPUBBLICA CALLS THE LAWYER
Even in the last few hours , Carlos Tavares has branded the accusations of his departure from Italy as "fake news" , but at least at the moment the Portuguese manager, certainly not unaccustomed to controversy, has not yet responded to Urso.
It was done – and perhaps this shouldn't even be surprising anymore – Repubblica , accused on several occasions by Carlo Calenda of being so pro-Stellantis (the group has Exor as its main shareholder which also controls, through Gedi, the newspaper founded by Scalfari) that no longer defend the workers despite the political position of the newspaper.
The newspaper directed by Maurizio Molinari ( disheartened by the editorial staff for an article rewritten and signed not by the author of the original piece ) in fact immediately turned to Luigi Mansani, partner of the law firm Hogan Lovells International, who reassures in this regard (Stellantis? Exor? Repubblica?): «A car is not like Barolo or Parmigiano, it does not have a protected geographical identity or a specification. It's one thing to pursue Parmisan, a fake Parmigiano, but it's another to pursue the name of a car."
Then Repubblica comments with satisfaction: “No minister has ever thought of denouncing Ford which produced the Capri. Perhaps because he never thought that it had to be produced in Italy or that the name could mislead consumers." It is interesting to note how the newspaper, which even at the time of Sergio Marchionne railed against delocalisation (here for example the editorial with the evocative title " Lingotto, the false shortcut of de-localisation " and here Scalfari's own analysis on the transfer of volumes in place in 2010 by Pomigliano in favor of Serbia), today prefers to defend the strategic choices of Tavares rather than the Italian workers left stranded by that Alfa Romeo Milano produced in Poland.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/urso-tampona-lalfa-romeo-polacca-milano-esaltata-da-repubblica/ on Fri, 12 Apr 2024 06:55:33 +0000.