(Finance) – The Minister for European Affairs, the South, Cohesion Policies and the Pnrr, Raphael Dense met this morning in Brussels with the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Competition, Margrethe Vestagerin order to illustrate the government’s proposal to establish a single Special Economic Zone (ZES) for the whole Noon of Italy, and start a comparison to make the measure structural”Southern contribution“.
In a note, the Ministry announced that Vestager has welcomed the proposal of the ZES, which will go beyond the current eight special economic zones already envisaged, to strengthen the system and support the growth and competitiveness of the whole of Southern Italy (the regions affected are Abruzzo, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Molise, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia). “The measures of will be extended to the whole of the South simplification And acceleration from the procedures Of approval And authorization, and business support for Special Economic Zones. The incentive tools will be based on principles of certainty and stability of the regulatory framework and procedural simplification, covering a longer time horizon than the current tools”, explains the ministry in the note.
All this will happen “in coherence with i different instruments of European and national multi-annual programming: the PNRR and the related REPowerEU chapter, the Cohesion policy and the Development and Cohesion Fund”. “On the operational level – continues the note -, thesingle authorization for the start of production activities and the reduction of one third of the deadlines for the conclusion of the proceedings. Transparency and efficiency of the whole process will be ensured through one Digital One Stop Shop“.
During Fitto’s meeting with Vestager the comparison with the Commission regarding the intention to make the measure structural “Decontribution South“, expiring on 31 December 2023. “As already done at the end of 2022, when we passed from the six-monthly to the annual extension, the government – reports the note – intends to promote a stable multi-year regulatory framework of reference for businesses and workers , in order to support employment in the South, in particular for women hey young“.
Executive Vice-President Vestager would have expressed “the full willingness of the Commission to open a dialogue with the Italian government for the transformation of this instrument into a structural and permanent measure, making it more investment-oriented at the same time, and thus meeting the needs and challenges for the economic growth of the South”. “Very satisfied” Minister Fitto : “these measures represent important tools for increasing the attractiveness and competitiveness of Southern Italy by reducing the gaps with the rest of the country and the EU”. The minister then judged the vice president’s “openness” as “positive” of the Commission on the “Southern contribution relief” measure, which “we will try to make it structural, thus giving regulatory and temporal certainty to companies and workers”.
Finally, the ministry announced that the topics of the meeting were also the Cohesion Policies and the PNRR.