“The story of the provinces demonstrates once again that the so-called major reforms don't work in Italy. Perhaps, on this new and fundamental occasion, it is better to take the path of «strengthened cooperation»”. This is the thesis of the industrial economist Franco Mosconi, professor at the University of Parma, expressed in his speech on the Bologna edition of the Corriere della Sera, hoping for inspiration from a model like that of the German Lander. Here is the text of the article:
“Germany's four largest Länder have two characteristics in common: a high population and a strong manufacturing base. The largest, with 18 million inhabitants, is North Rhine-Westphalia with the capital Düsseldorf; followed by Bavaria (Munich) with over 12 million; then with 10 million Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart); finally, Lower Saxony with 8 million (Hanover but how can we fail to mention Wolfsburg?). The contrast with the numbers of our regions appears in all its breadth.
The German ones are places that our entrepreneurs know very well. But today we have also begun to discuss which alliances/integrations can be foreseen between Italian cities and regions precisely to strengthen Italy's competitiveness.
Given its centrality in the new high-speed network, the issue appears particularly strategic for Bologna, as Dario Di Vico's article has clearly highlighted in these columns: «All the advantages of the Bologna-Milan axis» (23 October). On the table - Di Vico himself reminds us of this - there is also the old question of the "twinning" of Bologna with Florence, which does not seem to have given much fruit so far. Finally, broadening our gaze to Emilia Romagna, the possibility of a union with the Veneto has recently been mentioned by authoritative exponents of the regional council.
Now, to avoid playing a sort of "Monopoly" for public administrators, where to start? The story of the provinces demonstrates once again that the so-called major reforms do not work in Italy. Perhaps, on this new and fundamental occasion, it is worth following the path of "strengthened cooperation", that modus operandi invented by the founding fathers of a united Europe. Given the due proportions, therefore, it is a question of choosing some privileged areas in which to experiment - precisely, with other cities and/or regions - common institutions and policies to arrive, along the way, at real and proper integrations. Both hypotheses on the carpet appear promising. First, Milan and Bologna (their two regions are worth over 14 million inhabitants) as a «business network» in view of Expo 2015 and beyond, with all that this implies: fairs, major events, tourist exchanges, etc. Second, Emilia Romagna and Veneto as the "manufacturing capital" of the country: in fact, they are the two regions with the highest intensity of medium-sized industrial enterprises and with a widespread diffusion of districts. These two regions – a German «Land», with about 10 million inhabitants – could jointly give life to those collective structures in applied research and higher technical education which have made German industry great: the «Fraunhofer Institutes» and the «Fachhochschulen» (advertised as University of Applied Sciences internationally).
It is reasonable to expect that after a few years of "strengthened cooperation" in the two directions indicated above, the force of things will push for an all-round union in one direction or the other. The 2015 regional elections could thus offer the opportunity to give substance, on an institutional level, to what will have matured in the meantime."
