Tax exemption from Abruzzo to Sicily. «Now it will be easier to invest in the south»

Help for Mezzogiorno. To attract investment and work, reduce the gap with the North. And for perspective, the Northern League’s reform of differentiated self-government must be balanced. The European Commission has given the green light to the Italian government to set up one A special economic zone (zes) in the south. Any special regime that allows companies in southern Italy to receive customized incentives and tax breaks.

Zes Campania, the factory opened only 10 months after the license: an investment of 30 million

negotiations

The meeting in Brussels between Pnrr Minister Raffaele Fitto and Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager yesterday afternoon opened up a game that has been in the spotlight at Palazzo Chigi for months. Giorgia Meloni rejoices, “The development of the economy of the south is a priority of our government” The prime minister puts in minutes in the evening, convinced that the bachelor Zes will be a “change of pace for the economy in the south.” It is useful for abandoning the “logic of luxury that does not work” and creating “job opportunities and growth and making these areas of the country competitive and attractive to investments and businesses.” Eight regions will be affected by the EU tax-free system: Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sicily and Sardinia.

In the same regions, six regional and two interregional areas have been active since 2017, introduced by the Gentiloni government, administered by several commissioners. Among the measures already envisaged in these areas of the south is a reduction of up to 50 percent of corporate income tax and concessions through development contracts for a total amount of 250 million euros. However, the experiment was only partially successful. In the past six years, Zes has proven unattractive to international investors and to add insult to injury, the special regime in the eight regions has sparked fierce competition among the municipalities of the south.

Now the turning point announced by Veto. “The sole mandate to start production activities will extend to the entire south, and the time limits for completing the procedures will be reduced by a third,” the minister said. Not only that: in the face-to-face meeting with Vestager, the stabilization hypothesis of the “decontribution to the south” was also discussed, the EU tax credit for companies in southern Italy that provides, with reference to employment relations, a 30 percent tax credit in favor of employers in the private sector, which Italy has been granted to extend until the end of 2023.

Well, Veto suggests, negotiations are underway in Brussels to turn this temporary measure into a structural support. After days of fibrillation at Pnrr, one month from the deadline to review the recovery plan, Palazzo Chigi receives good news from the European Union. Obviously, and Vestager does not fail to point out, the subsidized tax system for the south will have to comply with the commission’s guidelines, above all the state aid legislation that was relaxed during the pandemic with the interim framework but which part of the EU countries are now asking for a new tightening. Another news that makes Vito smile from Brussels is the closure of a long dispute between Italy and the European Union Commission, which has been going on since 2015, due to the failure to recover government aid granted to some Veneto companies. An offense that cost Italy a huge fine: 219 million euros in eight years.

Southern plan

One Zes proposal for southern Italy, a large capital attraction in the south, seems to put pressure on the entire majority. “Good news, the government maintains its commitment to help the south,” said Forza Italia Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani. He certainly finds entrepreneurs’ associations in agreement, starting with Confindustria, which has been calling for years to unify the eight regions of the south into a single Zes region to reduce costs and simplify rules and bureaucracy.

The Minister of Autonomy of the Northern League Roberto Calderoli also rejoices, sure that federal reform and single Zes can together become “a driving force for the South”. Indeed, the impression prevailing among the majority, especially in the FdI, is that the result obtained by the Government of the South also serves in the future to balance possible imbalances in the differentiated autonomy and to send a signal to the electorate in the South. A momentum in light of next year’s European elections which will see Palazzo Chigi’s three allies vying for the electoral map to boot in defiance of the last vote.

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