Raffaele Fitto and the future of Europe, the new role of the minister
There has been much discussion in recent days about the role of Raffaele Fittowho has been a candidate for the role of commissioner for months. Many have criticized what appeared to be an excessive and at times inexplicable delay on the part of the prime minister in officially indicating his name. But perhaps these overly simplistic and perhaps a little opportunistic criticisms could soon be denied by the facts.
The issue, which required a long struggle (in the form of intense negotiations with the president of the commission and the European EPP summits) was not so much tied to the role to be assigned to Dense (there have never been any major doubts about its name) only from a formal point of view, in the sense that the specific weight of a founding country such as Italy was recognised.
But the issue also concerns the substantial aspect of that role to be assigned to the minister from Puglia, born in Maglie on 28 August 1969. The delegation on funds of cohesion, Pnrr and who knows, maybe even the budget, which the usual critics (or maybe it would be better to say the haters, who knows) wrongly define as second-rate, could instead be in the expert hands of Densea real godsend for our country, which has always been at the bottom of the list when it comes to the use of cohesion funds.
Probably, who knows, but these are behind-the-scenes stories that are irrelevant, Georgia Meloni And Densesince the beginning of the government adventure (in the face of those who say that Meloni does not have a program, not acting in the interests of Italy, how to solve the problems, like the revived secretary of the PD Elly Schlein) had in mind, with the nomination of the Apulian politician to the Ministry for European Affairs with responsibility for cohesion funds and Pnrrto a future as commissioner.
There cohesion has been a very delicate matter for some time and has long required a profound review, which now appears no longer postponable. The policy of European cohesionor regional policy, in fact, has its origins in the Treaty of Rome of 1957 which established the European Economic Community and required “special interventions” to promote a “harmonious development” of the territories of the Community. On that occasion the European Social Fund (ESF) to support employment and ensure fairer job opportunities.
In 1975 the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which finances individual projects chosen by the Member States. In 1988 a reform was launched which defined the cohesion policy itself and Operational Programs of the 1989-1993 cycle with priority and geographical objectives. In all these years, southern Italy has been one of the largest beneficiaries in terms of sums allocated but one of the worst in terms of spending capacity.
Suffice it to say that to date in the 2021-2027 program only 2% of the funds have been spent (in the previous one 2014-2020 15%). This is why what the Minister made Dense on the Pnrr (where almost 50% of the allocated funds have been spent to date) is something important. But now its role in Europe must succeed in doing what no longer seems postponable, and that is a serious reform of the institution of cohesion funds, which as they have been conceived, are demonstrating all their inefficiencies and imbalances.
The new political challenges will be indicated by the end of the year (geopolitics, digital, environmental And demographics) and in spring 2025 the first documents on post-2027 cohesion will be published. But before getting there, in its latest report (the ninth) on cohesion, in its recommendations, the commission hopes for a radical intervention to change the logic that has driven cohesion policies up to now.
Specifically the Commission proposes to focus on two aspects:
1) build better national institutions And regionalplacing institutional capacity building and innovation on the same level as infrastructure investments (in other words selecting qualified personnel for cohesion policy);
2) invest more in human capital development, including attracting and retaining people with tertiary education. It is clear that pursuing many (and not always coinciding) objectives simultaneously makes it difficult to achieve significant progress in individual themes, thus leading to a general perception of policy ineffectiveness.
A relaunch of the Cohesion Policy It therefore first of all involves identifying priorities in the objectives (just like those included in a very detailed manner in the PNRR, which certainly helped in determining which projects could be implemented from which ones could not).
To ensure the achievement of these objectives, it would be desirable if not necessary to adopt a long-term perspective. Recent crises, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, COVID-19 and the energy crisis followed to the Russian invasion of Ukrainehave shifted priorities towards short-term responses. While Cohesion Policy has demonstrated its adaptability to immediate needs, this flexibility has, however, compromised its long-term objectives.
Sustainable regional development can only be achieved through long-term investments, particularly in the diversification of regional economiesin strengthening adaptability to the environmental changetechnological and demographic and in improving the skills of the workforce. To make the cohesion funds more efficient, according to many experts, a greater rationalisation of spending would be needed, with an approach based on payment for results, which is the opposite of the reimbursement-based system currently typical of the Cohesion Policy, could serve as a model to improve the effectiveness of the policy.
However, the adoption of this new large-scale delivery system requires a real preventive verification and ex ante feasibility assessments. And it is along this line that the work of Raffaele Fittoa long-time politician who knows the Brussels bureaucratic machine inside out, can and must make an impact to improve the efficiency of the spending chapter that represents a third of the entire European budget. The future of cohesion is still uncertain, but it is necessary to improve the political planning and operational execution phase and, above all, increase synergies with other policies, at national and community level.
However, it remains an essential, indispensable tool for the Union: economic, social and territorial cohesion is essential to increase citizens’ trust in European institutions and fight growing Euroscepticism. And after the experience gained at home, with the excellent results obtained, and considering the weight that cohesion funds could have in the future for the relaunch of the South, the minister from Puglia could be the right man in the right place, for our country.
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