After a wait of over 20 months, the cohesion agreements for the main regions of the South are nearing completion: Campania, Puglia, Campania and Sardinia which alone account for two thirds of the European aid (over 40 billion euros) finalized to reduce the gap with the north.
Minister Raffaele Fitto aims to close the process by the end of May, before the vote with a further concession offered to the regions with the recent cohesion decree which offers the possibility of bringing forward some of the strategic projects. The Puglia region is accelerating negotiations with the technicians of the Ministry of European Affairs to define the final list of interventions.
In particular, it is a list of over 450 projects sent last March by the regional control room led by the head of cabinet, Professor Peppino Catalano. At stake are resources of over 7.3 billion euros between development and cohesion funds and Poc, the complementary funds, with a surplus of over 700 million euros sent by Puglia, 10% more than the set budget. Requests that Rome seems to have partially accepted.
Puglia’s FSC plan is based on three axes: growth, talents and vulnerable groups. The lion’s share of the proposals goes to business incentives which will absorb 1.5 billion euros to support the economic fabric, digitalisation, internalisation to encourage the introduction of artificial intelligence. The desired scenario is to expand companies and stimulate competitiveness.
The second sector of intervention concerns transport with projects ranging from new roads, for example the Talsano-Avetrna, railways, including Sud Est and Ferrovie del Gargano, and mobility infrastructures. Another billion euros will be allocated to water, waste, public housing and student accommodation. The construction of the second barrel of the Sinni is foreseen, as well as projects for the search for physical water leaks, to fix reservoirs, repair rural aqueducts and the construction of university residences for students aimed at keeping young people or recovering talents within the regional program ” Sea on the Left”.
Hence the letter sent by governor Emiliano to prime minister Loredana Capone with the request to convene a plenary session to discuss the FSC package. Yesterday the announcement was made in the regional budget commission by President Fabiano Amati who reported the regional government’s willingness to open a discussion before signing the cohesion agreement. For the first time, the FSC projects sent to Rome will be examined to evaluate them and establish, if necessary, which ones to prioritize for those to be brought forward in view of the signing of the cohesion agreement.
