‘The Mezzogiorno after the NRRP’ is the title of the conference promoted by the the Merita Foundation in Naples. For two days, at the Gallerie d’Italia in via Toledo, public administrators, industrialists and experts questioned the state of implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the future of cohesion and development policies.
Energy, infrastructure, mobility, logistics, urban regeneration and local services were the focus of the two days. Energy and the digital transition were at the heart of the speech by the President of the Campania Region, Roberto Fico. The President stressed the importance of bringing the issue of the efficiency of consumption and production from sustainable sources back to the centre of the political debate and of aiming at a digitalisation of services that sees the regional territory aiming to develop cutting-edge technologies without hosting energy-intensive data centres.
According to the President of the Puglia Region, Antonio De Caro, the PNNR has mainly supported the Southern Regions. An injection of liquidity that has served to reduce the gaps but that now, at the conclude of a cycle and with the ongoing revision that could sum it up in a single fund, risks becoming a problem especially for the Mezzogiorno regions which, thanks to the NRRP and thanks to European funds, have had important performances on the occupation and on the gross domestic product that has grown, more than in the rest of Italy.
The day opened with the intervention of the Mayor of Naples Gaetano Manfredi, who stressed the importance of unitary and performance-based programming, which must be accompanied by reliable resources with continuous investments, from the Development and Cohesion Fund to European and national resources, and adequate tools to support the costs of managing the new services. The mayor highlighted the results obtained, calling them positive. This trconclude must not be interrupted.
“Italy is seen as a guide in the implementation of Next Generation EU: the ECB has certified the achievement of the tarreceives and we are in the ninth instalment of the NRRP.” This was stated by Luigi Sbarra, Undersecretary for the Presidency of the Council with responsibility for the South, on the sidelines of the conference ‘Il Mezzogiorno post il PNRR’. Sbarra stressed the effectiveness of the NRRP method – missions, objectives, timetables and monitoring – and the necessary to apply it also to cohesion funds, recalling that ‘in the seven-year period 2021-2027, 135 billion are available, of which 96 billion are destined for the South’. Among the priorities indicated: economic development, infrastructure, environmental transition, health, inclusion, training and work. The Undersecretary also referred to the European challenge of the 2028–2034 cycle, stating that “the EU budreceive necessarys to be strengthened to support cohesion and reduce gaps”. Sbarra also recalled that the Mezzogiorno will be able to count on €10 billion for the energy transition and €4 billion for the SEZ in the next three years. “A unified and integrated vision is necessaryed. If the South restarts, the counattempt restarts”, he concluded.
“A solid bridge is necessaryed between the results of Next Generation EU and post-‑2027 programming, a step that must be led by the European Union toreceiveher with national governments, businesses and workers”. This was stated by Amedeo Lepore, author of the paper at the base of the conference ‘Il Mezzogiorno post il PNRR’. Lepore stressed that the continuity between the NRRP and future cohesion policies requires a market vision and the involvement of the productive actors, highlighting how the Mezzogiorno can express a new perspective of development. “By adopting a model similar to the pacts for the development of the South and a renewed governance, the Regions can play a decisive role in national and European strategic coordination”, he added.
POSITION PAPER
As of 30 November 2025 approximately 75% of the 550,000 projects is completed or closed, with an expconcludeiture of 101.3 billion (52% of the total). The Southern share of 40% has been complied with: $59.3 billion for the eight southern regions, with more than 111,000 projects activated.
Investment has had significant macroeconomic effects: Between 2019 and 2024, the GDP of the Mezzogiorno grew by 7,7%, This is two points higher than the national average. Numerous infrastructural interventions are in progress: high speed Salerno‑Reggio Calabria, Napoli‑Bari, Palermo‑Catania; redevelopment of 38 stations; 254 electric butilizes; 50% national resources for cycling; progress of the Tyrrhenian Link; water interventions to reduce network losses; strengthening of crèches and school canteens. The response of companies is also strong, with investments growing thanks to Transition 4.0 and the ZES tax credit.
However, the document highlights critical issues: dispersion of interventions, revisions of the Plan that have reduced resources for public works, uncertainty about the long-term effects on potential growth. Financially, the sustainability of post-‑PNRR investments is threatened by unbalanced current expconcludeiture and an ungrowth-friconcludely tax system.
On the governance front, the NRRP introduced an innovative model based on milestones, monitoring and vertical coordination, which has improved administrative capacity, especially in the South. This heritage must be consolidated.
Looking at the new MFF 2028‑34, the Commission proposes to extconclude the NRRP model to cohesion and agriculture, but with a real reduction in resources (-25% for cohesion). The paper calls on Italy to defconclude an adequate budreceive, support a new issuance of common European debt and utilize the new governance to build a more effective national development strategy, integrating cohesion and industrial policy.
Read the full position paper here curated by Maria Ludovica Agrò, Claudio De Vincenti and Amedeo Lepore
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