The Development and Cohesion Fund intended for the South but used as an ATM for emergencies

Listen to the audio version of the article

At the time of Giulio Tremonti, minister of the economy of the Berlusconi governments, it still bore the name of Fas (Fund for underutilized areas) and was said to be used as an ATM. Today, with the renewed label of Fondo Sviluppo e Cohesion (FSC), the film seems to be repeating itself. The European guidelines – as was the case for EU funds – have led to a certain flexibility in directing resources in favor of emergencies: first the measures against the Covid-19 crisis, then those linked to the context of the war in Ukraine and, again , interventions against high energy costs. But, emergencies aside, the trend towards a contingent use, detached from the real mission of a national fund of an extraordinary nature aimed at reducing territorial gaps, is becoming increasingly evident. For the 2014-2020 cycle, out of 68.8 billion FSC resources, 19 billion were used in this key. Approximately 10.2 billion reduced and almost 5 billion allocated with specific uses established by law, to finance spot measures which, even if aimed at reducing the gaps, should have been covered with ordinary resources. Another 4.1 billion have been assigned by Cipess for the Covid crisis. All this with an impact on the maintenance of the allotment key which provides for 80% for the South and 20% for the Centre-North. The same Report on the use of the 2014-2020 cohesion funds, attached to the Def, underlines that “emergency allocations have also negatively affected compliance with the territorial destination restriction”.

Extra-order use

The Report notes, in general, that “over time there has been a considerable increase in the use of the FSC extra orderm, by virtue of legal provisions, now to meet budgetary needs, now for specific uses of various kinds”. The drift consists precisely in the frequent cuts in favor of specific interventions, including expenses of a current nature.

And we come to the new cycle, 2021-2027. FSC availability has risen to 75.8 billion, but there are several unknowns. With the aid Decree of 2022, six billion, drawn from the most delayed projects, have been brought forward to deal with the emergency of high raw materials in construction sites and the survey is still underway to understand if some of those interventions at risk of definancing are accelerating and can therefore be reinstated. Pending this survey, the allocation to the Regions of a share of 25 billion is still blocked, of which over 22 billion in the South (see Il Sole-24 Ore of 22 September 2022) which had already been predefined last June. The request for an urgent meeting to overcome this stalemate, reports Il Foglio, was sent by the president of the Conference of Regions Massimiliano Fedriga to the minister of EU affairs, Pnrr and South Raffaele Fitto.