Regional elections

Calabria, Unindustria's action plan for the 5-6 October regional candidates

Industrialists' meeting in Catanzaro with Roberto Occhiuto and Pasquale Tridico, Francesco Toscano absent

by Donata Marrazzo

24 September 2025

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3' min read

Key points

Comparison with candidates
A plan for Calabria's economic development
School, university and business partnerships for young people
Occhiuto, social housing and merit income
No to the Tridico Bridge, yes to other infrastructure
Four technology and training poles for the development of the region
Diametrically opposed visions on the Gioia Tauro port

3' min read

Pasquale Tridico held tones almost like a lecturer, punctual, technical and concise in his answers. Roberto Occhiuto used a more confidential style, facilitated by the knowledge and sharing of many of the issues raised by Calabria's industrialists, gathered in the 'Guglielmo Papaleo' room at the Unindustria Calabria headquarters in Catanzaro. The occasion was the presentation of the programme manifesto that the union of industrialists has delivered to the two candidates for the presidency of the region.

The comparison with candidates

Absent was Francesco Toscano, Democrazia sovrana e popolare list, third candidate in the race for the Calabria Region seat in the 5 and 6 October regional elections. Present, instead, are the resigning President Occhiuto, representing the entire centre-right, and Tridico, economist, former president of the Inps, supported by a broad centre-left coalition.

A plan for the economic development of Calabria

President Aldo Ferrara did the honours, introducing the debate: 'Our document is the natural continuation of Agenda Calabria,' he said, referring to the plan presented in 2023, dedicated to investments. 'Today we are focusing on context conditions with action plans and guidelines that can generate development and employment.

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School, university and business partnerships for young people

Among the priorities indicated in the document were the redevelopment of industrial areas, to be made more efficient and attractive, mergers of municipalities, with tax and regulatory incentives, exports with a structured and strategic plan, capable of directing businesses towards new markets, a youth plan with partnerships between schools, universities and businesses, infrastructures, from the Strait Bridge to the High Speed Railway, sustainable finance and bureaucratisation. Themes that called for answers and in-depth analysis in a direct confrontation with the business world.

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Occhiuto, social housing and merit income

Health, an off-plan for Occhiuto ("I want to govern it as I have governed the other areas"), along with social housing to counter the depopulation of inland areas ("with bonuses of up to 100,000 euro") and the merit income to be awarded to final year students to keep them in Calabria. "In Crotone a flight school for Ita pilots'.

The no to the Tridico Bridge, the yes to other infrastructures

Yes to the Strait Bridge for the former governor ("in fact, maybe I'll even take advantage of it to find a billion for the high-speed rail link to Praia"), no to the infrastructure between Santa Trada and Torre Faro for Pasquale Tridico: "Politics is the choice of priorities and so if in Calabria it's difficult to go from the Ionian to the Tyrrhenian Sea, from Pollino to Aspromonte, even more so to Naples and Bari, what is the point of a Strait Bridge? The state of Calabria's infrastructure, let's face it, is terrible. And in an area, connections represent a graft of growth'.

Four technology and training poles for the development of the region

In the economist's programme, industrial and labour policies envisage 'a differentiated ZES with four technological and training poles to meet the need for specialised labour for companies, in the Corigliano-Rossano, Vibonese, Crotonese and Reggino areas where there are already industrial sites'. Imagining greater proximity between the university world and the business world. The aim is for those who study in Calabria to be able to stay, as Vincenzo Giovanni Squillacioti, President Giovanni Imprenditori of Unindustria Calabria, asked during the debate.

Diametrically opposed visions on the port of Gioia Tauro

On the port of Gioia Tauro, the first for transhipment in Italy and in pole position in the Mediterranean, the visions are diametrically opposed: 'A great dispersed potential' according to Tridico. "A reality with many projects in the pipeline," according to Occhiuto, "where it will be possible, for example, to build the Dri, Direct Reduced Iron, hub for the supply of materials to feed the furnaces of the new Ilva".

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