SINGLE ECONOMIC AREA STRATEGIC PLAN, CONFINDUSTRIA: GOOD STRUCTURE AND CONTENT

Mazzuca: 'Stimulate southern economy dynamism. Let us work together to increase tax credit resources'

Rome, 26 July 2024 - "We positively assess the structure and contents of the Strategic Plan on the Single SEZ presented this morning by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Minister for European Affairs, the South, Cohesion Policies and the National Reform Programme, Raffaele Fitto. Thus the Confindustria Vice President for Strategic Policies and Development in the South, Natale Mazzuca

"In particular, we share the identification of the supply chains to be strengthened - with their priority sectors - and the technologies to be promoted. Among the former,' he explained, 'are Agroindustry, Tourism, Electronics-ICT, Automotive, Quality Made in Italy, Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals, Naval and Shipbuilding, and Aerospace. On the other hand, the technologies to be promoted largely recall the indications of the European STEP Regulation, including Digital, Cleantech and Biotech'.

"On this, in the context of the constructive dialogue initiated with the government, there is broad agreement with the contributions we have provided in recent months to the Mission Structure," noted the Vice President, who emphasised that the focus on infrastructure investments is also "very relevant". Without going into the details of the projects, the Plan provides a clear direction on the priorities for intervention over the next few years based on the available resources, PNRR and Cohesion Funds in primis, in the awareness that the infrastructure gap represents one of the main gaps for the southern economy and industry," Mazzuca noted.

"The challenge now is implementation, to which our territorial network, in its role as 'facilitator', can give a strong impetus, starting with the grounding of the single authorisations. The objective is to make the process smoother, recovering a logic of proximity that facilitates settlements and investments consistent with the strategic lines of the Plan.

We are confident that this collaboration can be a cornerstone of the joint work to support development and employment in the South. But these are ambitious goals that require an organic vision, including an adequate financial endowment.

This is why we reiterate that the tax credit is an essential component of the Single SEZ operation. The data of the past few days on applications for subsidies has shown the phase of great dynamism that the southern production system is experiencing, also linked to a greater propensity to invest. It is therefore important to support and implement this positive trend, while the recent allocation of resources for this measure is causing great concern,' said the Vice President of Confindustria.

"This is why, together with the government, we will have to work in the coming months to identify the real need for resources and strive to increase those available, adapting them as much as possible to business demand and exploiting every useful tool for this purpose. At the same time,' Mazzuca added, 'it will be necessary to ensure a multi-year horizon for the tax credit, thus favouring investment planning that, on the one hand, avoids the rush to reserve the available funds in a single time window and, on the other, ensures businesses a framework of legal certainty that is functional to their competitiveness.

In this sense, we welcome the reassurances provided by the government in recent days,' he said, urging 'a courageous and radical action, without ideology and prejudices, in which the polar star is a long-term strategic vision, which pivots on the South as a determining factor for the growth of our country.

In a country that still has such deep gaps internally, the real shot in the arm must start from the social and economic rebalancing of the territories'.