Not just Recovery Plans. In the last year there has been talk of nothing but the funds that the European Union has allocated to deal with the disastrous economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, with the Next Generation EU, Brussels has been very generous with Italy, which has been given the largest slice of the pie, equal to 191,5 billion euros. However, the budget that the EU makes available to the Member States is not limited only to "pandemic resources", on the contrary. Also very important are the "ordinary" funds that will be disbursed under the Multiannual financial framework 2021-27 approved last June.
In figures we speak of a total of over one trillion euros overall between now and the next 6 years. An amount in line with those envisaged by the previous programming cycles and slightly above 1% of the GDP of the countries of the Union.
Il Monitor on Local Finance of Intesa Sanpaolo's Studies and Research Department reports how many resources will arrive in Italy thanks to the new Financial Framework and who they will go to.
42 BILLION FOR ITALY
In detail, during the new EU programming cycle Italy has been assigned 42 billion euros of resources, funds to which national co-financing will be added, reaching a total of 82 billion euros. The majority of this money (53,5 billion) will go to the less developed regions, while the remaining 27,4 billion will be divided between the more developed regions and those in transition. Abruzzo, Sardinia and Molise will double the resources available to them, underlines the Intesa Sanpaolo Monitor, which nonetheless launches the alarm on the actual spending power of these resources.
On the basis of the provisions of the EU Rules, in fact, the funds must be spent within 2 years of the end of the seven-year period (this is the "n+2" rule), otherwise they will be disengaged. “The data on the implementation of the previous programming period indicate the difficulties of programming and spending: as at 30 April 2021 there are still over 10,5 billion euros to be committed by 2023. We also undoubtedly need a sprint to spend the over 26 billion euros that had not yet been paid as at 30 April”, highlights the Intesa Studies and Research Department.
PUBLIC INVESTMENTS DOWN
The Monitor then goes on to analyze the public investments recorded by the Territorial Public Accounts. Well, between 2009 and 2018 there was public investment reduced by more than 17 billion, with a halving of the overall spending level within a decade. The reduction in investment spending was mainly concentrated on local administrations: "of the 17 billion in expenditure lost, almost 13 billion concerned local administrations", reads the report.
From a geographical point of view, the decline affected all regions, except for Abruzzo and the autonomous province of Bolzano (which remained stable). Lazio (-1,6 billion euros, which in real terms is equal to a 75% reduction), followed by Valle d'Aosta (-78% in real terms) recorded the most marked decline. From a sectoral point of view, however, the reduction mainly involved traffic, health, general administration, the environment, public safety and social security. The only exceptions are the Labor and Energy sectors.
In this context, however, there is also some good news: "the data referring to the last few years show a turning point: in 2019, public administration spending on investments grew", underlines Intesa. An important contribution to investment spending came from public, local and national enterprises: investee companies, in particular, have partially replaced the investments missed by the public administrations in recent years and have given an important boost to the recovery in 2019.
