OK for six cohesion agreements worth 1.7 billion

From school construction to research on quantum computing and AI. From social-health facilities for minors and young people to innovation in tourism enterprises. From the digitisation of State Police archives to the reduction of hydrogeological risks. These are just a few of the areas covered by the six 'cohesion agreements' (worth a total of 1.7 billion) signed yesterday at Palazzo Chigi by as many ministers, Premier Giorgia Meloni and the head of the department for European Affairs, the NRP and Cohesion Policies, Tommaso Foti.

This is in addition to the 21 agreements signed with the Regions and Autonomous Provinces and the seven reached with other ministries in October 2025. In total - as the President of the Council stressed in a note - there are 34 agreements "worth a total of more than 50 billion euros. Extremely valuable resources,' she added, 'that finance strategic interventions to reduce territorial gaps and make Italia stronger, more cohesive and competitive. With yesterday's six, Foti echoed her, we are intervening "for our young people in the field of education, to relaunch tourism as a strategic growth factor, to strengthen our health system, to increase the safety of our cities, to promote research oriented towards new technologies, and to make our territories more resilient to calamitous events".

Turning to the projects, the most conspicuous endowment concerns the Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies, Nello Musumeci: 470 million from the Cohesion Development Fund, to which are added 28.1 million in co-financing from other resources, for an overall total of 498.1 million. The resources are earmarked for measures to reduce hydrogeological risk, to strengthen the National Civil Protection Service (SNPC), to mitigate flood risk, and to develop, upgrade, and modernise marinas, harbours, and maritime villages.

Slightly lower down is his colleague from the university, Anna Maria Bernini. The 381.18 million (of which 306.76 million from the CSF and 74.41 million from the Revolving Fund) will be used to strengthen research infrastructures and human capital with high technical-scientific specialisation, as well as applied research and technology transfer projects with priority focus on quantum technologies, high performance computing and artificial intelligence. Slightly less is the amount of resources earmarked for MIM. We are talking about EUR 360 million for interventions aimed at improving the safety conditions of school buildings through fire-prevention upgrades, asbestos abatement, and the upgrading of facilities and spaces for teaching, laboratory, sports, and recreational activities.

For the Ministry of the Interior, 278 million euros are on the table. A substantial part, approximately 80 million, will be allocated directly to the territories. The objective is to strengthen control in the most exposed areas: video surveillance systems in difficult neighbourhoods, technological garrisons in emergency rooms, and monitoring tools along roads and motorways, where the prevention of offences is intertwined with the repression of crimes. The other resources will largely finance the strengthening of the infrastructure of the state police and fire brigade. Not only headquarters, operational facilities and equipment, therefore, but also interventions with a wider impact on the territory. These include the recovery and redevelopment of sports facilities in areas at risk of degradation - from Rome to Campania, from Calabria to Sicily - the overcoming of the conditions of isolation of some inland areas and urban regeneration projects in areas of the country marked by a higher incidence of crime.