«More effective institutions to overcome this “fragile convergence” phase»

Calabria, for years a symbol of southern delays, can today bring some elements to this discussion. According to the Bank of Italy, in 2025 the regional GDP grew by 1.1%, the highest figure among the Italian regions, compared to the national 0.5%. Employment increased by 3.8%, over twenty thousand in one year, and unemployment fell from 13.1 to 9.8%. The quality of work has also changed: between 2022 and 2025, permanent contracts grew by 14.5% and fixed-term contracts decreased by over 20%, while the share of young people who do not study or work fell from 32 to 24%.

Exports grew for the fifth consecutive year and exceeded one billion euros for the first time. The port of Gioia Tauro closed 2025 with a historic record of around 4.5 million TEUs, 14% more, despite the Red Sea crisis. The airports exceeded four million passengers and in the first half of 2026 Calabria was the first Italian region for growth in tourist arrivals, +10.5%, and in arrivals from abroad, +23%.

I don't intend to turn these numbers into triumphalism. Our employment rate remains among the lowest in Europe, and the gap to the rest of the country will only close in many years. But the data says that the direction is right, and that when the institutions stop being an obstacle, private initiative responds.

The first lever, therefore, is the quality of the institutions. A Region must not replace entrepreneurs: it must build an environment in which those who invest, hire and innovate find certain times and clear rules. We did this in constant dialogue with Unindustria Calabria and its president Aldo Ferrara, with the intermediate bodies and with the unions.

The second lever is human capital. Between 2002 and 2022, around 500 thousand graduates left the South, and in Calabria the exit rate exceeds 50%: territories that train their own young people and give their talent to others.

This is why we have introduced Merit Income: Calabrian students who enroll in universities in the region and maintain an average of 27 or above receive from 500 to a thousand euros per month, with an allocation of 15 million.

At the base there is a liberal principle: the point from which we start should not decide the point we arrive at. But a Region alone can do little. At a national level, the courage to eliminate the Irpef for young people under 30-35 years of age would be needed: not a bonus, but a competitiveness lever for a country that struggles to retain its own talents and even more so to attract new ones.

The third lever is the Single Zes, which the Report rightly proposes to transform into a real industrial policy. It has already activated around 11 billion in investments, halving the authorization times, and among the cases cited is Baker Hughes, which has chosen to invest further in its Vibo Valentia factory: retaining those who are already there is as important as attracting those who are not there.

I agree with the Report's proposals, starting with a stable tax credit over a five-seven year horizon. In 2025 coverage has dropped to 70% of requests, and no investor plans on one variable.

Finally, infrastructure. In Calabria the Pnrr has had less weight than elsewhere because high-speed rail has not yet arrived and the railway network is just over half electrified. The framework law with binding deadlines that the Report proposes for high speed is the right path, and Salerno-Reggio Calabria would be the first test case.