«I believe that the single SEZ could really represent a shock for the South. At a time when the South, I may be a visionary, but can experience what the northern regions experienced a few decades ago, when they took advantage of the fact of being close to the engine of development of the European economy which was German manufacturing ». The president of the Calabria Region said it Roberto Occhiuto during the hearing in the House Budget Committee.
«Today – he added – I see before my eyes, in Calabria, how important the Mediterranean has become and the southern regions, since they overlook the Mediterranean, can truly be resources capable of taking advantage of this circumstance. If we really want to slow down the flow of migrants, the best way to do it is to give the opportunity to these people who are fleeing from hunger and war, I too would flee from hunger and war, the possibility of living where hunger and war do not exist. ‘it’s more. And then you have to make investments. If Europe makes investments as I think they do on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, these countries will grow with a GDP growth rate significantly higher than many European countries. And then Calabria, Sicily, the regions of Southern Italy can take advantage of this circumstance and the Zes can be the logistics platform for companies that want to use the new opportunities offered to the Mediterranean”.
Occhiuto positively evaluated the extension of the SEZ to the whole of Southern Italy. «If we put on the two sides of a scale – he added – on the one hand the tax breaks that the Zes grants and on the other the simplification, that is the idea of being able to authorize in a very short time, the simplification is worth even more than the tax advantages . Extending this simplification to the entire South is an extremely positive thing. Here too, however, there is the flip side of the coin. I am concerned about the governance of the system. It’s true, not all ZES have performed well in recent years. But I must say that in my Region the Zes has done a very positive job. We gave authorizations in a month. And then the governance of the SEZ must be such as to allow the issuing of these authorizations, as has happened in the situations where the SEZ has worked better. And it seems to me that in short, these guarantees are not there in the decree, although a transitional phase is foreseen with the Zes commissioners continuing to carry out their activities”.