Puglia in the lead for the (slow) start of the new EU cycle 2021-2027

No payments and still limited commitments have been made in Apulia, although it ranks first among southern regions, as of 29 February, for the 2021-2027 European funds operational programme. According to the data reported in the statistical bulletin of the Mef's State General Accounting Department, in Apulia 401.84 million out of the 4.426 billion of the ERDF and 202.52 million out of the 1,150 of the ESF Plus have been committed. In the first case, commitments - as of 29 February 2024, as documented by the Cohesion Policies monitoring - amounted to 9.08% of the allocated amount and in the second to 17.60%. No payments, on the other hand, have been made, or at least have not yet been reported in the bulletin of the State General Accounting Department.

In comparison with the other regions, Apulia is first in terms of commitments, followed by Campania (93.76 million for the ESF+ and 0 for the ERDF) and Sicily (66.17 for the ESF+ and 0 for the ERDF), which, together with Sardinia, are ahead in terms of payments made. For Apulia, therefore, as for other regions - due to the delay in the adoption of the decrees on eligible expenditure - the road is uphill, also considering the amount of resources allocated (5.777 billion lire), which places it in second position, in absolute terms, after Sicily.

In this cycle, the region has five policy objectives: ranging from competitiveness and innovation to the green economy and urban and sustainable mobility; from transport to employment, education, training, youth employment, welfare and health, and finally territorial and urban development. The programme has been approved by the EU Commission and the most significant item among the employment sectors in terms of funding concerns competitiveness and innovation, which will absorb 1.2 billion, or almost 40 per cent of those allocated under the ERDF programme. In detail, EUR 548 million will go to SMEs, to support their growth and competitiveness and to generate jobs, EUR 385 million to research and innovation in Apulia's production sector, EUR 143 million to digital transition, and finally EUR 82 million to training workers to better cope with digitalisation and ecological transition. The green economy will have 858 million at its disposal, the welfare and health sector can count on 804 million, and the education and labour sector on 464 million. Of this programme, some notices have been published (among the latest, Mini Pia Tourism, Pia Tourism, Impresa possibile, renewal of means of transport, municipal waste collection centres, Nidi-Nuove iniziative di impresa, contratti di impresa) and others will be.

To the EUR 5.7 billion of ERDF and ESF Plus resources must be added the EUR 2 billion of the CIP (Complementary Programme). Instead, the resources of the Development and Cohesion Fund (Fsc) are still suspended. Apulia, together with Campania, Sardinia, and Sicily, is in fact still without an agreement with the Ministry of the South, which has signed 18 of them since September. Those not signed have the largest dowry of the Fsc (over 40 billion), all resources necessary to ensure the mandatory co-financing of EU funds and aimed at reducing the gap with the North. From the Ministry of the South, no forecasts on the conclusion of the Apulian game - at stake is 4.6 billion - but it is certain that discussions with the technicians of the department headed by Raffaele Fitto are being accelerated to define the final list of interventions. In total, there are more than 450 projects sent in last March by the regional steering committee led by the head of the cabinet, Peppino Catalano. Apulia's Fsc plan is based on three axes: growth, talent, and vulnerable groups, with the core destined for business incentives amounting to 1.5 billion. The combination then between European funds and Pnrr allows the region to dispose, in the coming years, of 15 billion between EU resources, to be spent by 31 December 2029 for the N+2 rule, and Pnrr resources by 2026.

As for the previous 2014-2020 programming cycle, with 20.9 billion received under the European cohesion funds (made up of Fsc plus Fesr and Fse), Apulia was the third beneficiary in absolute numbers, after Campania (26.1) and Sicily (24.2). Of the total 113 billion earmarked for our country, the Apulia region absorbed 18.5%, and was the one that, more than any other, used the resources of the ERDF and ESF: certified expenditure, according to the statistical bulletin updated to 29 February 2024, amounted to 103.56% as of 31 December 2023. And about one-third of the 20.9 billion received, i.e. 7.9 billion went - as can be read on the Opencoesione portal - to support the competitiveness of enterprises, placing it above the national average in the three indicators by which the competitiveness of enterprises is measured: ability to export, for which Puglia in 2021 achieved a score of 35.43 against an Italian average of 31.99.