The key points
- The difficult balance of the Italian system
- How much is the Syracusan industrial area worth?
- Complex crisis area: a challenge for politics
Sicily is a candidate to become the first green region of Italy and the green platform of the Mediterranean. And it is in this strategy that the request for a complex area for the industrial area of Syracuse in the triangle of the municipalities of Priolo-Augusta-Melilli also fits. We can say that this is the summary, made mainly by the president of the Sicilian Region Nello Musumeci, on the sidelines of the presentation of the sustainability report of the Syracusan industrial area. An industrial center that summarizes all the issues on the agenda today: national energy supply, sustainability, energy transition. Therefore of national energy strategy.
The president of Confindustria Syracuse, Diego Bivona, says it clearly: “This district is strategic for our country because it is at the center of the energy supply chain, for its technological know-how and the enormous value of human capital, for its strategic positioning in the center of the Mediterranean, irreplaceable bridge with the countries of the Mena area (Middle East, North Africa) to which we will have to look more and more in a logic centered on the Mediterranean ». He has said this many times, underlining the importance of the recently initiated request for recognition of a complex crisis area which calls into question in the first instance the Mise led by Giancarlo Giorgetti.
The difficult balance of the Italian system
Saving the industrial center of Syracuse and relaunching it thanks to investments is the challenge that everyone sees ahead. And after all, it seems to understand, it is the challenge of the Italian system, as Aurelio Regina, vice president of Confindustria who chairs the Technical Energy Group explains: “We have a weakness compared to France and Germany: on the one hand we have to finance the the renewable energy industry – which must push towards the production of quantities that are unimaginable today – and on the other hand we must keep the thermoelectric system that functions as a balance to the structural instability of renewables. So a scenario with double costs, unsustainable between now and 2030. But this does not mean that Italian companies will not be ready or are not preparing to manage the European Green Deal – says Regina -. Italian companies strongly support the European Green Deal but there is a need for pragmatism and a great sense of reality, looking at the technologies available with clarity and without ideologies. Only in this way and by aligning the three environmental, economic and social axes, can we accompany a transition process in line with the country’s expectations. If this were not the case, we risk losing a great opportunity ».
How much is the Syracusan industrial area worth?
If we want to stay with the opportunities at risk in the parts of Syracuse and Sicily, it is enough to scroll through the sustainability report which, without neglecting the effects of the pandemic, gives the picture of what is the situation in these parts where ten large refining companies are located, of chemistry and energy. «Large companies – explains Sergio Corso, vice president of Confindustria Siracusa and head of the group for sustainability – in 2020 had a turnover of 7.1 billion and distributed 223 million euros in wages to just over 7,000 employees overall. In 2020, the added value was 694 million, while 2.5 billion euros were paid to the tax authorities. The health emergency has caused an acceleration of the energy transition process when many technologies are not yet mature. Companies need to be ‘accompanied’ on this path also through: Pnrr, Complex Industrial Crisis Area, European Cohesion Funds and for the Green Deal ». Here is the point that Bivona makes clear: «We are ready to take up the challenge of the energy transition. But if the policy is not able to indicate any path or otherwise those proposed by the companies do not go well, what remains? Answers are needed. On the possible paths, on the projects that are concretely feasible and economically supportable, on the times for authorizations that certainly cannot be the current ones. Well, I don’t know if these answers should come from the NRP (after all, the funds and lines of financing were negotiated with the EU by the previous government, leaving this little operating margin). I do not know if the answers can be found in the recognition as a complex crisis area, because then this should be filled with the necessary funds. Or whether they can rely on EU development and cohesion funds. Or finally, we want to resort to that State-Refining Pact approved in the 2020 budget which provides that part of the excise duties paid by companies to the State can be used to partially finance energy transition investments “.
Complex crisis area: a challenge for politics
Politics therefore. Musumeci, having arrived this far, draws what he considers a possible prospect for this industrial area and for Sicily: «There is a constant tug-of-war despite many ministers showing attention towards Sicily. We do not need alms but we need equal opportunities with other regions – says the governor of Sicily -. Rome must know that the current ruling class of Sicily cannot bear the weight of past, past responsibilities. This is why the industrial crisis area here in the Syracuse area becomes the essential prerequisite for facing a conversion work, for attracting new investments and new capital and starting the innovation season. It is an important challenge for Sicilian industries because the conversion work must see companies as protagonists: we need to recover a lot of lost ground. I told the transition minister Cingolani that Sicily is a candidate to be the first green region in Italy. We want to be a hydrogen production center, we are the first for organic farming ». Vannia Gava, undersecretary at the ministry for ecological transition speaks for the national government: «The government cannot be subtracted. We must do more and work more: we cannot promise miracles but it is essential that the government, I speak for my political side, find solutions together with you. We must reactivate the Refining Pact and make the whole government understand, I will speak for it with Minister Cingolani but also with President Mario Draghi, that a difficult moment is starting. There is a lot to do and we are open to collaboration. We cannot escape the alarm cry of this sector. I will be happy to initiate a dialogue with the Syracusan industrial center which, during the acute phase of the pandemic, guaranteed continuity of supplies and job stability. It is essential that the government find solutions together with the entrepreneurs who are the driving force of our country “.