“We are here also because we have always been close to the south and will continue to be and we need Italy to travel at the same speed.” Thus the president of Confindustria Emanuele Orsini, today in Reggio Calabria for the 100 years of the Reggio Calabria Confindustria. «The ZES has done good for the south and this territory because I don’t want to forget that the 5.6 billion spent in the last two years have generated 28 billion in investment, with 35 thousand hirings – he recalled -. So it is the right way, but it is also the right way because it has also managed to lend a hand to the administrations to be quick in providing answers.”
“For us, the Bridge is a necessary infrastructure”
“I won’t go into the merits of what the Court of Auditors wrote, but for us the Bridge is a necessary infrastructure.” «The Bridge over the Strait – continued Orsini – is not only strategic for Italy, but also for Europe, to close the European corridor. So for us it is essential that this work is done.” «I hope – said Orsini – that a resolution will be reached quickly and, I repeat, I won’t go into the merits of what the Court of Auditors wrote, because I haven’t read it, I don’t know the reasons and therefore it’s not my job. Our task – underlined the leader of Confindustria – is to say that for us it is a fundamental spin-off, but above all it connects two such important lands and in any case it will produce work for this territory. So we are ready and we hope that this infrastructure will be built and can start quickly.”
The Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council with responsibility for the South, Luigi Sbarra, spoke this afternoon at the celebratory event for the centenary of Confindustria Reggio Calabria, which was held at the “Francesco Cilea” Theatre. In his speech – we read in a note – Undersecretary Sbarra underlined how this achievement “demonstrates the strength and ability of Calabria, Confindustria and the social partners to be protagonists of a possible development of the territories, based on work and enterprise”, also highlighting the current phase of concrete growth that is affecting the South: increase in GDP, investments, employment. “With the Meloni Government in recent years – he declared – 1.2 million new stable jobs have been created, over half of which in the South”, also adding that “Invitalia data show the birth of 4,114 new businesses in 2024 and 51% are based in the South.” Focusing on the measures of the 2026 Budget Law, Sbarra recalled, in addition to the interventions to support workers’ wages, the increase in allocations to healthcare, to the family, the reduction of taxes for the middle class, the refinancing of the Single SEZ with 2.3 billion euros – the highest since the institution of the measure – and its three-year structure, with the postponement of supplementary communications to January; the incentives for the hiring of young people, women, disadvantaged workers, in the SEZ regions; the refinancing of the New Sabatini and the Development Contracts the Undersecretary – is committed to a united, coordinated, concrete vision of policies and investments to strengthen the role of Southern Italy as a true engine of development for the entire country. The South is no longer the periphery, but thanks to the protagonism of the world of business and work, of local national institutions, it is an integral part and increasingly protagonist of national growth.”