The Government’s new policy on European Funds splits the front of the Regions. There are different positions which mostly correspond to the political position of the regional councils, as is also happening on the issue of autonomy. On the one hand, the centre-left regional presidents who oppose the direction that Minister Raffaele Fitto wants to give to the governance of European and cohesion funds by criticizing them, on the other the centre-right governors who, on the contrary, are confident . Then there is a third group, with numerous representatives, who are withholding opinions for now: although solicited by the Sole 24 Ore, the governors Massimiliano Fedriga (Friuli Venezia Giulia), Alberto Cirio (Piedmont), Eugenio Giani (Tuscany) have not expressed any opinions , Roberto Occhiuto (Calabria).
Instead, the president of Campania Vincenzo De Luca does not spare his invectives, who for months has not missed an opportunity to request the release of the national cohesion fund. «It seems to me scandalous that the national government continues to block the disbursement of more than 20 billion euro for the southern regions of the development and cohesion fund. Campania is entitled to the 5.7 billion necessary to ensure the co-financing of European funds”.
The Agency for territorial cohesion having been abolished by decree, whose functions and personnel passed to Palazzo Chigi, centralized control was accentuated. The report on the state of implementation of the European and national cohesion policy presented by Fitto had highlighted the need for greater control to accelerate spending (Italy has a spending percentage of 55% of the planned, against a European average of 69% ). But a careful reading of the data makes it clear that the most delayed programs are those entrusted to the ministries, also due to the extraordinary resources of ReactEu which have inflated the dowry of administrations already in difficulty. «The expenditure of national programs – explains the Campania Region – stands at 40.2% compared to regional programs which reach 67.8%. This figure is the result of constant dialogue with the competent services of the European Commission”.
The president of Puglia, Michele Emiliano increases the dose: “Puglia is among the regions that have always been more efficient in the use of European funds and other national funds for the promotion of cohesion”. But what warms people the most is the part in which the report presented by Fitto and sent to Parliament outlines the need to revise the 2021-2027 Partnership Agreement, considered no longer current also due to the changed context after the war in Ukraine . “A revision – underlines Emiliano – which appears problematic in terms of implementation methods and times”.
On the opposite front, the new governor of Sicily, Renato Schifani, considers it “an excellent choice to correct the course on the governance of the Pnrr funds and cohesion policies. A decision that fits in the wake of speeding up and simplifying». And Vito Bardi (Basilicata): «The data on European funds tell us that they didn’t work. The South continues to be a disadvantaged area. The percentage of funds committed is valid up to a certain point, because there is no assessment of the social and economic impacts”.