Good morning everyone, thank you for being here.
I feel obliged to begin this speech by mentioning the awful thing that has happened this morning, not here but in Florence, where some workers have been involved in an accident on a supermarket construction site. Both personally and on behalf of the Government, Italy and all the administrators present, I would like to express my condolences and sympathy to the families of the people involved. We are following developments and praying for the injured and those who are still missing. 
I would therefore like to express my condolences, as this is another incident that tears at our consciences; these people simply went out to work, and won’t be going home today. We must offer them and their families our support and full attention; our thoughts are with them.

That being said, I wish to thank President Occhiuto, Minister Fitto, the Members of Parliament, Mayors, and all authorities present here this morning for this great event we have worked so hard on. I also wish to tell President Occhiuto that I agreed with every word of his speech, basically because I share its spirit.

Allow me to take a small step back and speak about the work that has brought us here this morning for the signing of this cohesion agreement. As you know, development and cohesion funds are the main funds for fighting territorial divides: in Italy, there are clearly large divides between north and south, and I have to say also between east and west, but there are also divides within the same areas of the country. These funds are the main instrument we have to make investments to ensure that all this nation’s citizens have the same rights.

When we entered office, we realised that these important resources, worth tens of billions of euro and organised across multi-year programming cycles, were often not spent. They either weren’t spent in full or were spent with huge delays. We could have carried on like that, but I don’t think that a nation like ours, that objectively needs resources, can afford not to spend every last cent of the resources available to it. So, Minister Fitto, whom I wish to thank for his very valuable work, began discussions with all regional presidents in order to map the status of expenditure for the previous programming period, and to begin discussing the new programming period. Why? Because clearly our goal is both to manage to spend all these resources and to spend them in the best way possible, which means spending them as part of a strategy.

Our discussions with all the Regions resulted in the ‘Decreto Sud’ [‘Decree for the South’], which reorganises the cohesion funds and establishes these cohesion agreements. The cohesion agreements have a number of specific characteristics, the first being that the projects they fund are proposed by the Regions themselves and are shared with the Central Government (and this is what has made some people a bit angry); this is clearly not because we want to limit the autonomy of individual regions, but is to include these resources as part of an overall strategy. For too long now, we have acted like monads, as if we were all separate territories. However, if we do not connect the work being done by one region with that of another, then we will never build up the strategy that the nation as a whole needs. So, we have asked to include also these projects within an overall strategy.

We then also took action to establish a number of principles, stating for example that: funding can be withdrawn for works projects that are not completed, in order to then use the relative resources for projects that can instead be completed; and, in the event of delays that do not allow for the resources to be spent on schedule, substitute powers can be activated. This is a way to increase accountability for all of us, but it is above all a way to ensure that these extremely valuable resources are not squandered.
 
Again, as a matter of strategy, we must connect this work to our National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), because there are several sources of funding. Something else we understood when we came to Government was that, in some cases, funding from different sources would overlap or would not work to create a strategy that made sense. This is why I chose to give responsibility for both Development and Cohesion Funds and the NRRP to the same Minister, because, while we were working to reorganise cohesion funds, we were also working to revise the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, to be sure that resources were distributed in the best way possible and that no one and nothing would be left behind and without due funding.

Allow me to make a small digression: also with regard to the NRRP, Mr President, we will see what more can be done also for the Calabria Region in the future. However, objectively speaking, I can remember all the alarm bells that were sounded about the NRRP: that the Meloni Government would not spend the resources; that we must be mad because a revision of the NRRP would make us lose the resources; that we would lose all the resources. Things went a little differently: in 2023, Italy completed all milestones and targets for the third instalment, which were the ones we inherited and some of which had some issues; it received payment of the third instalment; it presented the milestones and targets for the fourth instalment; it received payment of the fourth instalment; it presented all the milestones and targets for the fifth instalment, and was the first nation in Europe to do so. And, while we were doing this, we renegotiated the NRRP. Also in this regard, why did we renegotiate the NRRP? Because the previous Plan had been drawn up in a different context that did not take into consideration a number of emergencies that we are facing today, caused for example by the conflict in Ukraine, and so it was necessary to update it. This was also turned into an ideological issue, but we have once again shown that not only was it possible, with almost all European nations now doing the same thing, but that, in doing so, we could provide more cogent responses to the problems we are facing today.

We have freed up resources worth EUR 21 billion which we can spend on a number of what we consider to be priorities, such as supporting the production system. There are EUR 12.5 billion more for business incentives, over EUR 6 billion of which for Transition 6.0. There are resources for farmers, because this Government didn’t need to see tractors protesting in squares to realise that the agricultural sector was in difficulty. We knew this already and have been working on it since day one; we have increased the resources for agriculture, from supply chain contracts to agrivoltaics, from EUR 5 billion to EUR 8 billion as part of the revision of the NRRP. We have worked on improving the energy efficiency of small and medium-sized enterprises. We have allocated additional resources worth almost EUR 1 billion to healthcare. We have carried out work that we believed was very important to do.

I shall say it again: this work corresponds to an overall strategy. I must thank the Presidents of Italy’s Regions for their work regarding the development and cohesion funds in particular because, as President Occhiuto rightfully said, all of them have understood the meaning of what we are doing and there has been, and continues to be, a huge amount of cooperation. This is the tenth cohesion agreement we are signing, and another six are also ready, unless I am mistaken; the others are being worked on. Each has their own difficulties, but everyone is being cooperative, except for one who is not being very collaborative at the moment. I mean, of course, respect. I’m not even that surprised if we take a look at the 2014-2020 programming cycle: 24% of the necessary funds were spent, so perhaps if time were spent working instead of protesting, then it would be possible to achieve a few more results. That, however, is another matter.
 
Calabria is the tenth Region to sign this type of agreement, and is the first in Italy’s Mezzogiorno to sign one. As President Occhiuto was saying, with this agreement, we are making EUR 2.863 billion available to this area. However, if we add to these resources the amounts made available from other funding sources, equal to approximately EUR 257 million, then we reach an overall investment here of EUR 3 billion. To be precise, these resources include the EUR 142 million already allocated as an advance payment in 2021 and the EUR 440 million that we attributed to the Calabria Region through a special law to counter the hydrogeological risk. These resources will be used to fund a total of 317 projects in this region, but these projects will be focused on just a few priorities, precisely to comply with the idea of an overall strategy I was talking about before.

The main priority we are funding with this development agreement is infrastructure. In total, this agreement allocates over EUR 1 billion to infrastructure. We are talking about road infrastructure, public transport, ports (I’ll be coming back to the matter of ports). By law, EUR 300 million are allocated to the building of a bridge over the Strait of Messina, a bridge that many like to define as “the bridge that will never be built”. “It’s impossible to build a bridge over the Strait of Messina”; I am convinced that those who use the word ‘impossible’ are those who have no courage, who don’t want to work, because those who are courageous and want to work get things done.

I came here many times when I was a member of the opposition, and I like to show that what I said when I was on the opposition hasn’t changed since I’ve been in Government. Every time I came to the south of Italy, I always spoke about infrastructure, about “citizenship infrastructure” if we want to put it like that. We have sometimes played around with this term, because the south’s gap is often complained about, but I very much agree with President Occhiuto that there is only one way to bridge the gap with Italy’s Mezzogiorno and that is to create the conditions to allow these regions to compete on an equal footing. In this regard, there is a fundamental difference in terms of the model, we could say in terms of the political vision. This morning I read an interview with an opposition leader, for whom I have great respect because I was on the opposition for many years, who said: the patriots are abandoning the Mezzogiorno (referring to me), they are betraying the Mezzogiorno.

I think there are two ways to bridge the gap with the Mezzogiorno: there is the ‘reddito di cittadinanza’ [‘citizenship income’] benefit and there is ‘citizenship infrastructure’. In my view, the ‘citizenship income’ benefit was the response given by those who considered it impossible for these regions to recover, who thought these areas had an inevitable fate and said to the citizens of these regions: ‘I can’t improve your situation, I can’t do anything for your development and, I’ll tell you something else, I don’t need your contribution, and so what I can do is maintain you in your situation of poverty’. This is not how I see the potential of these regions. In response to those who accuse me of dividing Italy, I would like to say Italy has been divided in the past, by those who believed there were major-league citizens and minor-league citizens, citizens it was worth investing in, as they would have a multiplier effect, and other citizens it would instead be useless to invest in and who had to be maintained in their situation of marginalisation. This is not how I see it.

I believe that the challenge in these areas is to allow the Regions of the Mezzogiorno to prove their worth, quite simply by them having exactly the same conditions that have been given to other citizens in other Regions. In my view, this is done by investing in infrastructure. And it is precisely because I consider myself a patriot that I want to bridge the gap that unfortunately exists, and I want to bridge it with solutions that are not the easiest but that really can achieve results; these are certainly less easy to achieve, but we have seen easy responses implemented in the past and they haven’t really worked.

There are some gems here, as President Occhiuto rightfully pointed out; there is potential, but without infrastructure they won’t get anywhere. Take the port of Gioia Tauro. It is no coincidence that we have come to the Port of Gioia Tauro today. This is a gem; it is a major piece of infrastructure in the Mediterranean; it is Italy’s leading port in terms of freight traffic; it is the ninth largest port in Europe in terms of freight traffic. Is this good? We are a platform in the middle of the Mediterranean, we are a platform right in the middle of the sea that is the point of contact between the world’s two major maritime trade areas: the Indo-Pacific and the Atlantic. We are in the middle, with a port that is practically at the tip of this platform. Do you think the best we can aim for is to be the ninth largest port in Europe for freight traffic? I can tell you that it isn’t. It isn’t because we all know that there are goods arriving from the East, transported via sea, that circumnavigate Europe to arrive to the ports of Rotterdam or Amsterdam, simply because we do not have the domestic infrastructure to guarantee that, once those goods arrive in Italy, they can quickly reach their destination markets. So, yes, infrastructure is an issue; despite the efforts we have made and are making to ensure the port works well (there are of course development and cohesion fund resources), if we don’t work on what happens to back this up, then it won’t reach its potential.

In my view, this is therefore the strategy we need to implement and that also concerns another example of major infrastructure in Italy that, until now, hasn’t been made the most of: the sea. The sea, with Italy’s 8,000km of coastline and geostrategic position with the Mediterranean Sea and relationship with Africa (which it is no coincidence that Italy is working towards, to go back to what President Occhiuto was saying). Look, people talk about Africa being a poor continent, but Africa is not a poor continent. Today, Africa holds 60% of the world’s strategic mineral resources and 60% of its arable land. It is potentially a very rich continent indeed, and today it is mostly exploited. And while some are plundering Africa’s resources, we are the ones paying the consequences in terms of instability, migration flows and all the issues we know about. This Government has chosen to restore Italy’s key role in the Mediterranean and in relations with Africa, certainly attracting also other resources. I do not presume that the Italian nation can resolve the problems of an entire continent that has more than a billion inhabitants, but I do believe that we are doing something that Italy has often not been brave enough to do, and that it is to be a pioneer in a number of strategic choices and to pull others along, whereas in the past we often preferred to watch what others did and then follow them.

I think that we can play a leading role in new eras, pioneering strategies. Today, everyone is understanding the value that Africa can have for us, especially with regard to another issue that concerns and involves above all Italy’s Mezzogiorno. If you look at it (at those who apparently want to, let’s say, divide Italy), in actual fact, all the major strategies we are identifying pass through here, including the issue of our relationship with Africa. 
What is the major challenge we have set ourselves with the ‘Mattei Plan’, etc.? To make Italy an energy supply hub for Europe, bringing together two interests: Africa’s interest in growing, prospering and living off its own resources (Africa has the potential to be a huge producer of energy and particularly of green energy); and, the difficulty being faced especially in northern Europe with regard to energy supplies. This means that if we (not just us as Italians but us as Europeans) seriously invest in Africa and in energy production also in Africa (without prejudice to the fact that Italy’s Mezzogiorno will produce renewable energy and energy via the regasifier; I also very much agree with everything you were saying – there is clearly huge potential but we cannot meet all the demand alone), if we manage to get Europe to make those investments in Africa, if we produce that energy and build adequate connection infrastructure, as indeed we are doing, then do you know what will happen? Italy’s Mezzogiorno, which is the gateway for that energy, the gateway for that energy to be transported, will take on strategic importance, which will bring all possible answers.

There is therefore a purpose to what we are doing. There was a purpose to us establishing a Ministry for Marine Policies, launching a strategic ‘Sea Plan’ and optimising all the Ministries with responsibilities for this great infrastructure and great driver of wealth that in Italy is represented by the sea. Both now and in the future, this doesn’t just mean fishing and the world of sailing, which is undoubtedly an example of Italian excellence; also in this regard (and forgive me for talking about what may seem like futuristic strategies but they are not) this nation’s problem is that it hasn’t had a strategy but, for example, today and in the future, while everyone’s eyes are looking up, competing for dominance of space (where competition is certainly fierce and Italy must also be present), I’d like to inform you that almost no one is looking down, towards another key strategic domain of the future: the seabed and the great, huge resources that can come from the seabed. To date, there is no one there that competes with Italy. This is another of our strengths, and is something we have to put our minds to.

I shall say it again: yes, I could come here and simply talk about the number of resources we have allocated to incomes and wages, but I like talking about strategy, because that is what has been missing here. What has been lacking here is belief in the potential created by local citizens’ industriousness, courage and strength, by the ability to put that industriousness, expertise and strength in a position to be able to compete on an equal footing, and by a central government strategy, shared with these local areas, which is something we are all working on.

So, we have identified the strategy and are dedicating resources to it, as can be seen with the Development and Cohesion Fund. However, this is not the only instrument we will be using: we will also be using NRRP resources as well as other sources of funding; we are reviewing them all, Mr President, so other resources, and other challenges, will arrive.

The Development and Cohesion Fund also has very significant resources for other key issues too: the protection of cultural heritage and other areas that are characteristic of Italy, such as tourism, and potential in terms of job creation. There are resources for the waste-to-energy plant here in Gioia Tauro, co-funded by both public and private resources, to overcome the other major challenge of waste management, on which the Region is doing extraordinary work. There are millions and millions of euros to support the production system, i.e., for those companies that decide to create jobs and wealth here.

In this regard, there is another response that the mainstream press has not given enough importance to, I believe it has been undervalued by many, but as the added value this will bring is gradually understood, more attention will be paid to it. We have succeeded in something that no Government before us had managed: the single Special Economic Zone for the Mezzogiorno. We were used to having small Special Economic Zones that didn’t work as well as they could have; the challenge the Government took on and won, receiving the green light from the European Commission, was for all regions in the south of Italy to become a single Special Economic Zone. What does being a single Special Economic Zone mean? It means – given that President Occhiuto also talked about the need to attract new investments – that all new investments that are made here in the regions of the Mezzogiorno, regardless of where, can receive very important incentives and an extremely significant streamlining of administrative procedures. It means providing those who invest in these regions with an advantage, thus bridging the gaps we have inherited and creating the equality that is a prerequisite for merit, i.e., putting everyone in the same position to be able to compete, with those who are better going further.

This brings me to the last issue: the matter of ‘differentiated autonomy’, because I’ve heard lots of things said about this too. Can you seriously imagine a person like me – I believe I’ve made it rather clear how much I love Italy – thinking of dividing the nation? I want to say two things about differentiated autonomy in order to explain the reasoning behind this measure, which is quite rightfully being debated a lot, I can perfectly understand. The first: the prerequisite for differentiated autonomy is identifying essential service levels. Do you know what that means? It means that, for the first time in Italy, someone will establish the essential services that must be provided to citizens in all Italian Regions, in all areas of the country. I would like to officially inform you that, in many of these areas, those service levels have not been guaranteed. Defining and guaranteeing those levels means also guaranteeing them for citizens who had not been guaranteed them in the past. The second: differentiated autonomy does not work in the way some have said whereby “I take from one Region and give to another”. Differentiated autonomy provides for something simpler: in the case of upstanding regional administrations that spend their resources well, work well and give a high multiplier, then the Central Government may consider devolving other powers. So, this is not about the relationship between one region and another, but rather the relationship between central government and each region. It therefore does not create a gap between north and south; if anything, a gap is created between administrations that work well and those that haven’t worked well. I’m not surprised that this scares some, especially those that have the lowest indicators, but this is about increasing accountability, which can also be the strength of these areas, because when responses are given, regardless of where, I can only be interested in strengthening that area so that it can grow better. There is therefore no attempt at all to weaken anything; there is only an attempt to make things stronger, being aware of the huge potential of Italy’s Mezzogiorno, of its people, of its lands, by acting on certain levers.

A strategy is needed, resources are needed, the resources need to be spent, and those managing the resources need to be held accountable for spending them in the best way possible. With these four elements, I believe the citizens living in these regions need not be scared of anything, because they have experienced a lot, including the 'Ndrangheta and organised crime, and they can and must be able to count on the challenge of responsibility. And this is how we will fight the 'Ndrangheta, by showing that when the State gives you something, it doesn’t ask for your freedom in return, as organised crime does. The State must be present, and must provide serious and effective answers, which are precisely what we are striving to build.

Thank you everyone, and I wish you all the best with your work.

[Courtesy translation]