Half a billion euros over the next two years to prevent other companies from leaving the seismic crater. And above all to push others to invest and open in the 138 municipalities of Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Umbria and create jobs. “Resto al Sud”, a measure created six years ago to combat the industrial desertification of the South, is also extended to the territories of Central Italy hit by the 2016 earthquake. Areas which, after the events of eight years ago, have recorded constant depopulation and have seen their economies are increasingly heading towards the abyss. Invitalia and the national Microcredit body are also in the field.
In the years following the earthquake, Istat estimated a decline in the resident population of 6.3 percent in the 138 municipalities of the Crater. Business turnover fell by almost 8 points. In the Marche portion of the seismic area alone, 5,000 businesses closed and 1,500 jobs were lost. It is no coincidence that the Marche and Umbria themselves have been relegated by the EU from the club of the richest to that of the “transition” regions, where they find Abruzzo and an average income of the inhabitants equal to 75 percent of that of the rest of the Union.
This is also why the government has decided to introduce the “Remain in the South 2.0 – Earthquake areas” package of measures in the Cohesion decree signed by the Minister for European Policies and the Pnrr, Raffaele Fitto. Guido Castelli, commissioner for reconstruction in the Crater and one of the instigators of the measure, explains: «The goal is to apply the measures already launched in the South, such as those created with the package for the single Zes, also in these increasingly weaker territories». The special economic zones in which only Abruzzo currently falls. «Also because, with the more general “southernization” of vast areas of Central Italy, the conditions between these two quadrants are very similar.
FINANCING
Resto al Sud 2.0 seismic areas is mainly intended for under-35s. But resources will also be allocated to older entrepreneurs, if they are partners and not directors of companies that already operate and will settle in the Crater. The package includes funding for the relaunch and start-up of self-employed, entrepreneurial and freelance activities, individually or collectively, including those that require registration with professional orders or colleges. As mentioned, the recipients are primarily young people under 35 who are unemployed, inactive or unoccupied. Looking at incentives, a start-up voucher is being put in place under the de minimis regime, not subject to reimbursement, which can be used to purchase goods, tools and services for starting up activities and for a maximum amount of 40 thousand euros. This increases by 10 thousand if the tools are necessary for the energy transition. Aid is also foreseen in the de minimis regime for spending programs with a value not exceeding 120 thousand euros, for 75 percent as a non-repayable grant for the start-up of the activity. A mechanism that can reach up to two hundred thousand euros.
HOMEWORK
Invitalia will provide the incentives, Ente Nazionale Microcredito will take care of training, the office of the commissioner for reconstruction will act as a consultant on the bureaucratic front and will involve young people, schools and stakeholders to increase the number of business projects to be financed.
Castelli underlines that «the intervention to support the creation of businesses and self-employed and professional work promoted through the Cohesion decree and through the creation of a specific fund constitutes an important initiative. Having foreseen an aid intensity of the intervention for the areas of the 2016 earthquake linked to that granted to the areas of Southern Italy, which are also neighboring, constitutes a sign of attention to the economic recovery of the territories, which I believe can be taken into consideration in the future also with regard to the intensity of intervention of all active policies and incentives for hiring”.
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