«In the South, not assistance but resources for investments»

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«There is a South that wants to do things, with a corporate culture spread across all territories. A South that asks for infrastructure, bureaucratic simplification, that does not want assistance at all, but measures that encourage development to close the gap with the Centre-North and other European areas”. Vito Grassi, president of the Council of Regional Representatives and for Territorial Cohesion Policies and vice president of Confindustria, analyzed the data of the Mezzogiorno Check-up of Confindustria and SRM, and those of the SRM and Cesdim volume. Different approaches but with a common denominator: the South holds, it has a manufacturing of excellence, but heterogeneous on the territory, “which must be strengthened and strengthened, using the resources available to the Pnrr and European Funds, a fundamental opportunity to recover the distances with the country.”

The synthetic index of the southern economy for the first time in the last 15 years exceeds the level of 2007: a trend reversal?

It is undoubtedly a positive sign and testifies that there is a serious and vital entrepreneurial dynamic. This is also demonstrated by the check-up data on the growth of companies, in particular capital companies. The pandemic and this period of geopolitical crisis, with the expensive raw materials and the energy shock, have generated greater awareness among entrepreneurs.

The gaps remain, lower GDP in the South this year and next, lower shares of employment than in the North…

Yes, but the data needs to be read in more detail. The birth of new businesses, the dynamism of exports, which is the basis of this economic recovery, the presence of a manufacturing framework in important sectors, from food to aeronautics, automotive, energy and pharmaceutical companies. The industry of the South has long supply chains, which connect it to the North. The value chain of southern companies goes beyond the borders of the South. Growing the South is crucial for the whole country.

It is a question of strengthening existing companies, of increasing entrepreneurial density and attracting investments: how?

The measures that encourage investments in the South must be maintained. They should not be seen as aids, but as a driving force for growth. I am thinking of the tax relief, the tax credit, the financing for the Zes. But I hope, as it seems, that these interventions will be restored in the Budget law. They must be made structural, at least until the gaps are reduced or nearly so. Then, possibly, a decalage can be evaluated.

So do we need a development model that focuses on research and innovation, training, links between businesses and universities?

I would also add that it hinges on the public-private partnership, on the support that the business world can give to the administration to carry out the projects of the Pnrr and the European Funds. We need to change the story: the data show that the South does not want assistance, but an economic model of development, in order to have solid growth.