There are no setbacks in Eni's activities in Basilicata, especially in Val d'Agri. No uncertainty for the sums owed to the territory. The historic memorandum of understanding between the Italian multinational and the Region marked another step forward in the exploitation of resources, in the compatibility of industrial interventions and in the certainty that the "conciliation tables" work. Read more widely, also a message to those who think they can do without them, if not even abolish them in complex cases.
In Basilicata there is a Joint Committee which yesterday certified the disbursement of 39 million euros for sustainable development and environmental protection interventions. The representatives of Eni and Shell – the other giant active in the Val d'Agri – and the president of the Region, Marcello Pittella, sit on the Committee. Everyone signed a new check in favor of the local community, deriving from the agreement of twenty years ago, which has since been gradually amended. It was not easy then to define times, methods and procedures for collaboration between those who saw oil extraction as the violation of a territory and those who undertook to give work, make investments, ensure development. We cannot deny that such a mass of commitments and operations does not still periodically raise controversies, protests or has been able to keep away from investigations and judicial measures. But a positive synthesis, fortunately, has always been found.
On many occasions, the Basilicata model also forms the background for more complex assessments of industrial policies for the South. The basins for the exploitation of natural resources, of the subsoil, are framed in a structural and negotiating vision, absent for years, even when state intervention has been replaced by that of Europe and Community funds. The industry of the Region, its associated industries, is benefiting from these strategies and Confindustria Basilicata, by virtue of the agreements with the oil companies, has widened its horizon to the vast field of energy, transport infrastructures and professional training.
Governor Pittella commented on the Committee meeting, specifying that the 39 million Eni will be involved in projects for saving and enhancing water with innovative solutions. They can represent an example of circular economy through the adoption of a management model aimed at the reuse and recovery of water resources. He did not fail to mention that of the 180 million euros envisaged in the 1998 agreement, 141 have already been disbursed and subject to implementation agreements. The periodic monitoring of the agreement examines other qualifying points such as health, environmental monitoring, discussions with trade union organisations. A model that we have seen work and that has also produced a different relationship between Basilicata and the structures of the European Union when it was necessary to define the merits of investments and lines of intervention
