A burden for the country? Not so heavy, at least in 2023. The South saw investments grow by +4% compared to 2022 and even by +17% compared to 2019. In four years it's true, everything has happened and the ballast could be felt. Then it began to empty with GDP, employment and exports.
The Confindustria e. Mezzogiorno 2023 check-up SRM (research center of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group) does not paint a dark picture. He confirms the general stability of businesses compared to 2022 and says that even better can be done. Beyond government propaganda, researchers say they make the most of two precious opportunities: the PNRR funds and the single SEZ.
To encourage a path of sustainable development and quality employment, it is said. But they have been on the agenda for decades. Last year, employment grew (+4%) exceeding 6,3 million." The GDP for 2024 stands at +0,6% but brings with it all the differences with the rest of Italy. “Allincrease in employment from one year to the next there is no significant progress in absolute terms of the value of employed people. In the third quarter of 2023, almost 27% of thenational employment and 23,4% of women, values that are still too low when compared to the share of the population living in the South". Here's where the ballast hasn't emptied.
Skills, Connectivity and Competitiveness
The challenge revolves around "3Cs": Skills, Connectivity and Competitiveness of businesses. Researchers are usually good at summarizing their studies. Here around the Cs are to be spent 14 billion of euros of which 6,3 billion for the transition and 2,5 for green supply chains and net zero technologies.
It will be important to respect the destination ex lege of 40% in the South with all the support of the Special Economic Zone. It is not lost on SRM that a medium-term strategic plan is still missing. It is the unavoidable political point for whoever will lead the country in the coming years. The trump card to reunify the Italy of the future to overturn historical trends impoverished by ideas and human resources.
Once upon a time there were southernist policies that indicated tools and goals. The extraordinary intervention has revived many areas, but has never managed to bridge the differences with other areas. From this point of view, the dissipation of many public resources should also have been an example. The ambitions of (venture) captains of industry from the 70s onwards who sold industrial and development illusions of all kinds. Focusing on innovation and "3C" schematics will mark the turning point. Is this a new appointment with the development of the South? We don't know. Only at the end will we see if the ballast has been completely emptied.
