EU structural funds to be disbursed: to whom, and how much. An argument that does not fail to inflame the debate in view of the imminent European elections but, above all, which will characterize the choices of the new European Parliament.
The management of funds and its distribution both in terms of contributions and disbursements is at the center of bitter controversy. The centralization of funds has been criticized – especially by countries with the highest contribution rates – such as wasteful and inconsistent and the detractors point out that after more than thirty years of interventions, the economic and social disparities within the Union have not yet been overcome and on the contrary contribute to weakening its unity and stability.
And what is the Italian situation? “On the border line between North and South, which separates the places of opportunity from those of exclusion, Italy – notes a study by the Senate Evaluation Office – today it finds itself with an unenviable record: it has the lowest social development value in the EU-15 and its Mezzogiorno, with 20 million inhabitants, is the largest depressed area on the continent".
Since the early 90s, cohesion policy has been one of the cornerstone policies of the European Union for redistributing wealth between regions and countries and stimulating growth in areas lagging behind. Its resources have increased from an initial approximately 160 billion to the current 352 billion euros (a third of the EU budget) for the 2014-2020 programming period. 46,5 were destined for Italy, which however were not enough to give our country impetus. Taking as a reference the social progress index, which takes into account about fifty indicators, Italy is well below the EU-15 average (i.e. the 15 "historic" countries, members already before 2004): 58,4% against 70,3%. Worse than us only Greece.
In Italy it is difficult to quickly and effectively translate funding into well-implemented projects, “with political decisions taken in isolation and with a lack of adequate coordination, which can undermine the impact of any development policy. In fact, Italy shows the highest degree of expenditure dispersion by sector”, recalls the Senate's Evaluation Office.
In short, Italy has seen its distance from the core of Europe grow for over twenty years now. The borderline between North and South is increasingly marked and the South remains the largest least developed area on the continent. Weak national growth and widening regional gaps remain elements to be reckoned with in the coming years.
What to do? The Evaluation office of Palazzo Madama identifies a possible path: "Cohesion policy will be able to preserve its key role even after 2020 only if it is able to demonstrate that it is an economic priority for the EU, guarantee equity (correction of the impacts policies) and efficiency (removal of development bottlenecks), generate economic benefits commensurate with its costs, and, above all, perform well in terms of verifiable economic impacts”.
What turn will the debate take in the new European Parliament? Again the Evaluation Office: “The debate on the future of European policies is made more complex by the economic and political implications of the great recession, by the growing pressure from Eurosceptic parties and by unprecedented institutional changes in the structure and composition of the EU”.
