Leonardo Del Vecchio: 'Italian Industry Is Losing Its Competitiveness'

In an interview appearing in today's 'La Repubblica', Leonardo Del Vecchio underscored the risks threatening the Italian economy. "We were a big exporting country', said the Veneto-based businessman, "but our industry is losing its competitiveness, the ability to sell its products abroad. Italy is becoming increasingly less equipped to export. If you take away luxury goods and machinery, what's left? The country is hindered by traps and snares, there's no flexibility and reactions to this seem to be diminishing".

According to the president of Luxottica, the crisis in Fiat is a good example of this situation: if it had happened in a country like France, Spain or Germany, it would have taken half the time to get over the emergency, with the same managers who are leading the Fiat group now.

What the Italian industry needs to do, Del Vecchio pointed out, is to increase its production capability and to take risks: otherwise the export business that remains could also be lost, and we would see an invasion of foreign products, which is what has already happened in the automobile market.

Del Vecchio also talked about the economic situation in the United States and about the dollar, in particular. "The US economy is very much stronger than Europe's. So I don't see why the euro should stay strong against the dollar. I think that sooner or later it will balance out again. Obviously it's impossible to know when this will happen. However, I am confident it will".

As far as the effect on Luxottica is concerned and assuming that in 2003 the euro-dollar rate will stabilize at 1.10 (yesterday the dollar fluctuated at around 1.14 - ed.), the exchange rate, which arrived at l18% in the first three months, will gradually drop to 9% in the last quarter. "Certainly, if this level were not to be respected", Del Vecchio concluded, "we will have to take another look at our forecasts".