What programs to draw Calabria of the future? Roberto Occhiuto and Pasquale Tridico try to draw the region of the next five years by illustrating the projects to be carried out and on which they will ask the voters.
Roberto Occhiuto
«Think of a car stopped for decades. Here, four years ago I found Calabria just like that. Gradually we have put it back on the motorbike, and now the goal is to start making our region run. I have always said I have not had the magic wand, but after so many years of immobility I can say without fear of denial that in the last 4 years we have done more than in the previous 40. We will tear the elections and we are ready at the second half of this game. There is still a lot to do, because many things still don’t work in health and there is a lot of new job to create. These will be the most important challenges of the next five years. After twenty years of promises now the construction of great hospitals is really reality. That of Sibaritide will be completed by 2026, following that of Vibo (by 2027) and that of Palmi (between the end of 28 and the beginning of 29). Then those financed by INAIL: Cosenza, Catanzaro and Reggio. And we will go on with community houses and hospitals. With the end of the commissioner, now at hand thanks to the closure of all the Budgets of the ASP, we will have less constraints and slowdowns, and we will be in a position to recruit – through a specific plan of incentives – new doctors.
At work the priority will be to stabilize all precarious workers, starting with the Tis. And then we will continue with our investment attraction plan to create new stable employment. With the Abraham dispute we transformed a crisis into an opportunity, saving 1000 workers. Innovation and digitization will be our allies for the future. Thanks to the initiatives of the Region, and about 225 million euros put in place in recent years, we have had 42 thousand new jobs in the last three years. Well, but we have to do even better. The infrastructures will go on with great determination. From the state road 106 (financed with 3.8 billion euros) to the A2 motorway (900 million to redo the Cosenza-Altilia section), from the Catanzaro Metro (whose works will end by 2025) to the electrification of the Ionian railway line.
We will end the land of the 215 million euros of the CIS flying for the renovation of the airports of Lamezia (the new departure area is already reality), Reggio and Crotone, and we will continue in collaboration with the most important companies in Europe to activate new air connections and make Calabria increasingly attractive for international tourism.
For the defense of the environment forward with the “zero tolerance” operation to safeguard the territory, to prevent fires, for the clean sea. The use of drones has become a national model: we will integrate this project with the IA and with satellite monitoring. Forward in the implementation of the reforms of the hydric, waste, of the regional single reclamation consortium.
Calabria was the first region in Italy to introduce the school psychologist, soon we will have the online psychologist and with the basic psychologist. Full support for the Calabrian university system, and new strategic plan to promote the image of Calabria in Italy and in the world. In recent years, finally, we have worked elbow with the police with law enforcement and magistrates, to keep the octopus of the ‘ndrangheta away. We will still ask for the collaboration of all the branches of the state to combat mafias and spread the culture of legality ».
Pasquale Tridico
«The fight against poverty is a priority. Thus was born the income of regional dignity: a tool aimed at those who do not receive the inclusion allowance and live in difficult conditions. Not a passive subsidy, but a support that accompanies active policies for work, the involvement of municipalities and the third sector in projects of social utility and the enhancement of common goods. A way to guarantee economic security, social inclusion and dignity to those who are excluded today.
Calabria must return to having public health. The program provides for the end of the commissioner within six months and the establishment of a single regional health agency, capable of guaranteeing transparency, efficiency and meritocracy. It is aimed at relaunching territorial medicine with health houses and community hospitals in the internal areas, to bring the essential services close to those who are now forced to move hundreds of kilometers. At the center also new hires of doctors and nurses, the reopening of closed garrisons and the modernization of the hospital facilities.
Calabria must stop losing its best children. The program offers a young plan that incentives for the return of digital workers and the stay of those who are now forced to emigrate. Among the measures: Smart Working and South Working with free internet spread in all public places, calm rents, renovation of abandoned houses in villages and cities, incentives for living and sustainable mobility.
Growth passes from businesses and training. For this reason, the program provides for the creation of three technological and training centers in Corigliano-Rossano, Vibo Valentia and Crotone, dedicated to new digital and industrial skills. Centers that will become reference points for start-ups, innovative companies and young professionals, able to connect universities, research and the production world.
In order for the young Calabrians to be no longer forced to emigrate, it is necessary to create opportunities for professional growth in the area. The program offers 100 scholarships for industrial doctorates, in collaboration with the universities of Reggio Calabria, Catanzaro and Cosenza. The goal is to strengthen the link between academic training and productive fabric.
Essential services, young people in villages and sustainable mobility. The internal areas are a priority. Healthcare, schools, mobility and digital connectivity to stop depopulation and reduce territorial inequalities. A advantage is expected for those who live, works and works in the internal municipalities, together with the “Young in the villages” program, which supports resetting and new businesses. A law on the regeneration of historic centers will offer tax incentives and tools to municipalities to recover abandoned properties. The Riace model becomes reference for reception and integration policies. Finally, the strengthening of public connections and subsidized subscriptions for students and under 30. Finally, the goal is to build a “federated noon”, that is, a cooperation between southern regions to exercise together the powers provided for by the establishment on infrastructures, ports, zes and innovation “.
Francesco Toscano
The electoral program of Francesco Toscano: “A sovereign Calabria, who cares, who works, who resists”.
Public health: abolish Legislative Decree 502/1992 which transformed the USL into the ASL-company. End of the commissioner and return plans. Reopening of hospitals. Pnrr Mission 6: non -empty walls but personal, machinery, real services. Lessons from Covid: never more authoritarian and bankruptcy restrictions.
Work: Young DSP plan, 100,000 internships/apprenticeships in 5 years. Stop Neet: halve young people inactive from 33% to less than 20%. Pact with the university. Contrast to precariousness. Agriculture and districts of food: support for the 29 Calabrian districts. Reformed Fincalabra. Regional tax credit, electronic account for families and businesses.
Infrastructure: SS106 Jonica, Security and development. AV Salerno-Reggio: priority Calabrian lots, integrated metropolitan stations. Port of Gioia Tauro, Retroports and railway connections. Airports: Lamezia Hub of the South, more international routes. Mediterranean: Calabria as a connection between Europe and Africa.
Social policies and contrast to poverty: shock anti-Poverity, reduce arope under 40% in 3 years. Efficient public housing. Public water and common good: enough privatizations. Popular legality: support for experiences such as Goel who show that economics without mafia can be made.
Environment: no to elitist greenwashing. Yes to popular environmentalism: fight against pollution of the seas and rivers, remediation of disused industrial areas, defense of the coasts, contrast to the consumption of soil. Local energy communities
A Calabria free from external constraints: We use European funds until they touch us, but we build tools for economic sovereignty. Fincalabra, districts, autonomous health. Withdrawal from European treaties to return to the Italian people full political, economic and monetary sovereignty.
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