Sea, energy, tourism and specialized productions. The 4 supply chains for the relaunch of the Sud- Corriere.it

At stake is Italy’s economic and political game in the Mediterranean chessboard. This was specified by the Minister for European Affairs, the South, Cohesion Policies and the Pnrr, Raffaele Fitto. International dialogue on the Mediterranean front is very important. A reasoning must be developed, especially with African countries, which creates the conditions for the natural platform represented by Italy in the Mediterranean to be able – explains Fitto – to find investments that strengthen its role, also from the point of view of dialogue at the European level . The minister’s reasoning emerges from his speech at the second edition of the Forum Verso Sud, organized by The European House – Ambrosetti, with the sponsorship of the ministry led by Fitto himself, and dedicated to the theme of the European Strategy for a new geopolitical, economic and social era – cultural of the Mediterranean. The forum was an opportunity for Valerio De Molli, CEO of The European House – Ambrosetti, to illustrate the proposals contained in the White Paper Heading South. Four strategic supply chains emerge from the document to make Southern Italy the center of gravity for growth and cooperation of the Mediterranean. Starting from the development of the sea economy chain, followed by the challenge in the energy sector, as well as the strengthening of tourism and the chain linked to specializations in the productive and industrial sectors. The goal, therefore, is to guarantee Italy a strategic weight in the Mediterranean Sea area, which accounts for 20% of world maritime traffic and 27% of world container transport services.

The absence of planning

In view of these figures, it was recalled that there are already the resources to support the process of strengthening Italy’s role, however, planning is lacking. Between now and 2027, between Pnrr funds, European Structural Funds and Cohesion Funds and national funds, the financial envelope for Southern Italy is around 350 billion euros, observes the managing director of Invitalia, Bernardo Mattarella, during a panel moderated by the director of Corriere della Sera, Luciano Fontana. The short circuit concerns, as Mattarella notes, the management of spending plans. The problem of the South has never been a problem of lack of financial resources, but of planning, design and spending capacity. The Minister of the Environment, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, also thinks so: I continue to maintain that the great difficulty of our country is being able to have certain times for decisions and for works. A concept that coincides with Fitto’s fears about the realization of the Pnrr by 2026. It will be essential to transform the dozens of small objectives into a few large ones, with the possibility of concentrating resources on large strategic interventions, he admits.

The bridge over the Strait

On the subject of maxi works for the South, it is up to the Minister of Infrastructure and Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, to recall that the bridge over the Strait of Messina is an absolutely fundamental infrastructure, as well as an avant-garde engineering solution worldwide, capable of attracting tourism . Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also participates in the forum on behalf of the government, focusing on the question of migration in the Mediterranean. An urgency that is not only Italian. We need a European Marshall Plan. With Libya and Tunisia we are thinking of an Italian investment policy, called the “Mattei plan”. Italy cannot be everyone’s point of arrival in general disinterest.