Development and Cohesion Fund 2021-27: CIPESS passes resolution for more than €32.4 billion. Allocations defined for each region and autonomous province

EUR 32.4 billion in resources from the ‘Development and Cohesion Fund’ (‘Fondo Sviluppo e Coesione’, ‘FSC’) will go to Italy’s Regions and Autonomous Provinces for the 2021-27 programming period, as per the resolution passed today by CIPESS (Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development) based on the proposal by the Minister for European Affairs, Southern Italy, Cohesion Policy and the NRRP, Raffaele Fitto.

The designated shares for each Region/Autonomous Province will be allocated once they sign an agreement with the Presidency of the Council of Ministers to share a plan for the financing and implementation of territorial development initiatives using overall cohesion policy resources. Minister Fitto provided information on this at the meeting of the State-Regions Conference on 18 May, where he explained the path to redefine the regulatory and programming framework. Said path, which has since been initiated, involves a series of political meetings followed by technical meetings (that are still ongoing) between the Department for Cohesion Policy, which has organised dedicated working groups, and the Regional and Autonomous Province authorities. The initial focus of these inter-institutional discussions is to understand the progress of implementation and needs regarding the programming for previous cycles.

The allocation proposal for the programming period, based on a set of demographic and social-economic indicators, complies with the overall regional allocation obligation of 80% to the South of Italy and 20% to the Centre-North.
With regard to the overall allocation amount for the programming period, even though this is only optional under reference legislation, the Government has undertaken to give each Region and Autonomous Province the possibility to use said resources to reduce the burden of regional co-financing amounts for ERDF and EDF plus co-financed programmes on their regional budgets, pursuant to article 23 of Decree Law no. 152/2021. This is without prejudice to the fact that Development and Cohesion Fund resources, including those to be used for co-financing European programmes, must be allocated to investment spending.
In order for the resources designated to each Region and Autonomous Province as part of the programming period to then actually be allocated, an agreement must be drawn up and signed between them and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

“This resolution”, stated Minister Fitto, “clearly defines the financial framework and programming horizon for the regional Development and Cohesion Fund, allowing local authorities, with the State’s support, to design a solid path for growth and a reduction of regional disparities. Now,” concluded the Minister, “it’s about quickly defining individual resolutions to allocate the resources to each Region, based on the ongoing process to define the 2014-20 and new 2021-27 programming periods, and to precisely identify measures to be financed, with a clear schedule to ensure they are definitely implemented on time”.

[Courtesy translation]