MEPs from the European Parliament’s Regional Development Committee (REGI) concluded their visit to Calabria, Italy, on Friday 4 November. Led by Younous Omarjee (The Left, French), the delegation took stock of infrastructure projects financed by the cohesion funds in the region.
While Italy was the second largest beneficiary of the 2014-2020 cohesion funds, Mr Omarjee welcomed “an on-the-ground approach that allowed us to assess investment needs and the need to make the recovery plan consistent with regional objectives”. The MEPs had discussions with Raffaele Fitto, Minister for European Affairs and Cohesion Policy in the government led by Giorgia Meloni, and with Roberto Occhiuto, President of the Calabria region, regarding the national recovery and resilience plans (RRP) and their pitfalls.
Italian cohesion policy looks south
“Calabria is often mentioned for its difficulties, but it is a land of great potential, we must create the conditions to exploit it fully”, Raffaele Fitto also said on Twitter, following their meeting. The partnership agreement with Italy under the cohesion policy 2021-2027 focuses on the southern regions, with the aim of reducing the development gap with the rest of the country (see EUROPE 12996/9). (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)