The government must help Italy's businesses "to save the country" by providing employment, European Parliament president Antonio Tajani said in Rome on Thursday.
"Companies are the nation's lifeblood," Tajani told business associations at a meeting at the Italian parliament organised by his conservative Forza Italia party.
"They need to be helped in order to save the country," Tajani said.
Italy's four million small-to-medium-sized companies provide employment and are a key resource, he underlined.
"Without businesses there is no work and therefore no dignity or freedom for the country," Tajani stated.
A total 95 per cent of Italy’s businesses have fewer than 10 employees according to the European Commission and OECD data shows they have lower levels of labour productivity than their peers.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Italian business model of small and medium-sized enterprises drove growth, but many did not invest in R&D and lack the management capabilities and human capital to compete on a global scale in today's world, according to economists.
Italy has suffered sluggish growth for decades. Despite a modest economic rebound this year from its third recession since 2009, output is still 5 per cent below pre-financial crisis levels.
Italy and Greece are the only EU economies that have failed to return to output levels before 2008.
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