Free movement of goods, capital and people. All three pillars of the European project have brought a (significant) benefit to Italy in economic terms. This was highlighted by the independent Prometeia study center in its latest report, entitled "62 years after the treaties of Rome: why we still need Europe“, published not surprisingly a few days before the European elections.
In detail, the analysis shows that our country has benefited from belonging to the EU above all on the commercial side, with the gap between exports and imports which has continued to widen over the decades, obviously to the advantage of the former.
TRADE
In particular, the Italian trade balance has gone from an average positive balance of 460 million in the 0,5s (equal to 50% of GDP) to an average positive balance of over 3 billion (56% of GDP) in the last five years (data in dollars at current prices). Today 15% of national exports are still destined for the single European market and a further XNUMX% is attributable to markets with which the common commercial policy has concluded preferential agreements, improving their accessibility especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
“In a review of the Cost of non-Europe, Mayer et al. (2018) compare the advantages of the Union compared to a standard regional trade agreement (later RTA, Regional Trade Agreement) - writes Prometeia - Italy is among the countries that derives the greatest benefits in terms of increased trade thanks to the accession to the EU, with an estimated increase of 45% for all trade, and 139% only for intra-EU trade (compared to an EU average of 36% and 109% respectively).
CAPITAL
As regards the movement of capital, Prometeia underlines that the greater freedom of enterprise in the territory of the Union has allowed many European multinationals to expand in Italy, helping the country's economic and employment growth. According to the report, today there are almost 9 European groups active in Italy and they contribute to the functioning of the production system by employing 780 workers and generating wealth of over 290 billion euros. Conversely, there are more than 12 foreign companies controlled by Italian groups, they employ 700 people and have a turnover of 250 billion.
PEOPLE
Prometeia's analysis also focuses on the Erasmus project, which every year allows thousands of university students to train abroad and for this reason represents the most typical example of what good the free movement of EU citizens can produce. It is estimated that, by 2020, Erasmus will have given almost 4% of young Europeans the opportunity to study or carry out an internship abroad: in the ranking, Italy is in fourth place for departures (over 35 in 2017) and fifth for arrivals (25). "Erasmus contributes to the development of an integrated European labor market - writes the research institute - it is estimated that participation in the program has a strong positive effect on the probability (+15/20%) of working abroad".
