Puglia, industry on alert: ESF-ERDF regional calls for tenders blocked

Apulia's industrialists are worried about the Region's halt to new requests for financing investments in enterprises under the Puglia ERDF-ESF+ 2021-27 plan. The applications already processed amount to EUR 2.2 billion, but the available resources are less than half, 1.35 billion. Hence the junta's decision to temporarily suspend the public notices of Programme Contracts and Integrated Facilitation Programmes (Pia), which concern several sectors, including tourism. The junta's decision, which has already been published in the official gazette, does not please the industrialists, who are calling for the notices to be restored 'as soon as possible'. In fact, Confindustria fears a slowdown in planned investments and uncertainty among entrepreneurs about the plan to evaluate the start-up of new production initiatives. The decision taken is a clear sign that the 'reset' of all 2021-27 facilitation measures - as defined in Il Sole 24 Ore Sud at the beginning of February by the regional councillor for Economic Development, Eugenio Di Sciascio - has turned out to be much more 'radical' than expected, thus provoking the worried reaction of Confindustria Puglia. With its president, Potito Salatto, also pointing out the particular 'complex economic phase underway that makes incentives an essential element to guarantee stability and confidence'. The incentives granted over the last nine years - in the 2014/2020 EU funds cycle - have made the difference for the regional production system, with almost EUR 8.4 billion in investments (of which 1.7 in R&D) activated by 19 thousand companies, against almost EUR 3 billion in contributions granted. And to close the cycle, there are also the funds, amounting to EUR 1.2 billion, envisaged in the Cohesion Agreement, signed last November between the region and the national government, as well as future business investments (at least 2,500 from 2024).

The imbalance between the applications processed so far and the available resources is not unrelated to the fact that the subsidies granted under the EU incentive charter were increased by a further 15%. During the suspension, the duration of which is not foreseen, the regional structures will therefore conclude the processing of pending applications by proceeding to cover the incentive to the extent still necessary. Once any savings have been recovered and imbalances in the regional budget and in the objectives of the EU programmes have been avoided, the publication of the notices now suspended should resume.no interruption for other measures such as STEP (call published last August for 471.5 million euro for the development of critical technologies), Nidi, Tecno Nidi (start-ups and small innovative enterprises) and Just Transition Fund Pia and mini-Pia for the province of Taranto (call published in January 2026 for 20 million euro), which is experiencing a deficit of planning from the territory