Driving discussions at this National Interest roundtable event was the acknowledgement that, more than 150 years on from the unification of Italy, the plight of the nation’s southern regions continues to be the major sticking point for the country’s growth. It was suggested that an examination of the integration and development successfully achieved by the former GDR would help pinpoint the sorts of measures needed to kick-start an effective process of regional convergence in Italy.
It was noted that Germany’s new eastern Länder, buoyed by their brilliant performance on foreign markets and significant investment from local and foreign multinationals, now boast low unemployment rates and high economic growth, at levels close to those of West German Länder. The example of the former GDR was thus held up as demonstrating that the revitalization of economically underdeveloped areas requires an efficient legal and institutional framework, as well as high-quality human and physical capital – all underpinned by a genuine and firm political commitment, without which, it was felt, Italy’s North-South divide may never truly be bridged.
Indeed, the adoption of a new and farsighted industrial policy was seen as a sine qua non for transforming the South from a drag on growth to a potential driver. In this regard, the participants highlighted logistics, renewable energy, urban regeneration, tourism, and agro-industry as areas offering potential scope for action. In addition, there was a perceived need to replace the top-down approach of the past with a bottom-up approach, which would enable strengths and weaknesses to be identified for each region and thereby avoid the South being lumped into one combined and homogeneous mass.
The Italian South was characterized as an area that today exhibits great potential, blending natural beauty, centuries-old traditions, and first-rate products, but increasingly lagging behind the standards of economic development in Central and Northern Italy. This growing divide between the two areas was seen as exerting a drag on the growth and competitiveness of the country as a whole. It was stressed that reviving the South entails not only restoring hope to an area that accounts for more than a third of Italy’s territory and population, but also injecting new lifeblood for the country’s growth.
The participants were of the view that crisis has yielded an Italy that is increasingly more divided and unequal. The manufacturing downturn has been much more extensively and keenly felt in the South, becoming almost structural in nature. The contraction of industrial capacity, rampant unemployment, increasingly pervasive poverty, and growing rates of youth emigration were viewed as forming part of the burdensome and tangible legacy of these recent difficult years. Indeed, despite numerous signs of recovery, this depletion of human, social, and entrepreneurial capital has prevented the South from latching onto the growth underway in Europe.
The participants cited various well-known factors as responsible for holding back growth in the South, including amoral familism, a local political class that is not fit for purpose, and a lack of civic-mindedness, which have led to the spread of criminal activities, the prevalence of corrupt practices, and the proliferation of the informal economy. Compounding this situation have been development policies that for decades have resulted in an inefficient allocation of public resources, due to ineffective scrutiny of the management of funds doled out by central government, together with insufficient efforts at identifying geographical areas and sectors as focal points for investment.
In summing up, it was suggested that with a view to emerging from the rather bleak picture painted, it would be worthwhile bearing the German example in mind, so as to enable a shift in gear and a move towards more highly innovative approaches.