The annual meeting between the Calabria Region and the European Commission took place on the results of the implementation of the PSR 2014–2022, closed on December 31, 2025and on the progress of the new CSR programming 2023–2027. During the meeting, the regional councilor for Agriculture Gianluca Gallo highlighted the extremely important result achieved by Calabria: 100% of the RDP spending, a goal considered particularly complex for a region in the South.
«We spent every penny – declared councilor Gallo – achieving a goal that in some ways appeared unattainable. Today Calabria demonstrates a spending capacity that is superior even to that of regions traditionally considered more virtuous”.
A result obtained thanks to the institutional collaboration with the European Commission and the work of the Agriculture Department, led by the Director and Managing Authority Eng. Giuseppe Iiritano. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Directorate General for Agriculture (DG Agri) of the European Commission, led by the head of the Italy Unit Filip Busz, who underlined how Calabria has achieved significant results despite the stereotypes that have historically accompanied evaluations of regional performance. Busz also confirmed that Calabria’s performances are on par Today above the national average. The programming that concludes records results of great impact: 424 interventions activated, 270 thousand applications received, over 147 thousand beneficiaries financed. The PSR involved numerous strategic areas: from services for rural areas to organic agriculture, from infrastructure investments to animal welfare, up to territorial cooperation.
Among the most significant interventions: 10 million euros for processing and marketing plants, 114 companies financed for agritourisms and educational farms, 1,270 financing for new fruit-growing plants, 1,129 young people settled in agriculture. On the infrastructure front, 220 rural road projects were financed, while 53 thousand real estate units were reached by digital infrastructure interventions between Broadband and Ultra-Broadband. The PSR has also contributed to the protection of native animal breeds, to the development of beekeeping, which Today has around 60 thousand beehives, and a significant increase in biological surfaces, which have exceeded 140 thousand hectares.
As regards the new CSR programming 2023–2027, the calls already published, for a total of approximately 180 million euros, to support the competitiveness of agricultural companies, in particular in the olive sector, and those dedicated to the establishment of young farmers were illustrated to the representatives of the Agri DG of the European Commission. New calls for investments related to animal, environmental and forestry welfare for almost 60 million euros will soon be published.
Councilor Gallo underlined how the CSR is the result of an intense concerted activity between the Region, agricultural organizations and the European Commission, introducing important innovations, including the increase in aid intensity up to 75% for some measures, in order to encourage structural investments in the sector. «For the olive sector – he explained – we have received requests for contributions for 120 million euros. For the youth tender, we have allocated significant resources which will allow the immediate entry of 445 new young farmers, with a non-repayable contribution of 100 thousand euros each.” Finally, a reference to exports: «Export numbers have doubled and the primary agricultural sector is driving this growth, confirming the strategic role of agriculture for regional economic development».