The region boasts a wealth of positive data, as illustrated by the Svimez figures: GDP growth of +11.9 per cent between 2021 and 2025, compared with the national average of 7.2 per cent. Industry is set to grow by 14.9 per cent over the four-year period 2022–2025, compared with 1.6 per cent for Italia as a whole; exports are set to rise by 8.3 per cent in the first half of 2026, compared with 4.5 per cent for the country. In the labour market, the unemployment rate stands at 4.4 per cent. However, between 2022 and 2024, 10,299 young people aged between 25 and 34 left for the Centre-North and abroad. This is a sign that growth alone is not enough to keep them here.
“It is not a question of listing individual projects, but of viewing them as part of a wider system,” said Murri. Funding for the 2021–2027 cycle totals 2.345 billion: 1,257.4 million from the FSC, 681.05 from the ERDF and 406.59 from the ESF+. The Cohesion Agreement funds 381 projects across nine sectors. Environment (370 million), transport and mobility (362) and urban regeneration (227) account for 959 million, over 82 per cent of the funds allocated directly to projects. In terms of implementation, Murri explained, the planning is set out in a single document, ‘Abruzzo prossimo’, which brings together the ERDF, ESF+, FSC, rural development and the NRRP allocation. Around 98 million from the FSC co-funds the European programmes. This is complemented by efforts to strengthen administrative capacity, with 39.48 million from the FSC and the Skills Hubs for small municipalities, to ensure that the investments are actually brought to fruition.
The discussion also highlighted the need to measure the impact of spending – that is, to assess whether the region has genuinely become more attractive to people and businesses. The Chief of Staff to the President of the Abruzzo Regional Government, Stefano Cianciotta, set out the direction: ‘Abruzzo is no longer a region that waits for opportunities from outside, but a region that creates them’, albeit with ongoing challenges such as the demographic decline and the ability to attract skilled workers.
Seated around the table in Brussels were representatives from different levels of the same sector: the Abruzzo Region and ANCI Abruzzo, the OECD and the European Commission (DG REGIO), the Municipality of L’Aquila – this year’s Italian Capital of Culture – Formez PA and a multinational such as Amazon, represented by its Head of Public Policy, Rita Malavasi. For major investors, Malavasi explained, the quality of public administration ‘makes a far greater difference than any grant or incentive’: where there are ‘clear rules and clear timelines’, she added, investors find ‘the ideal conditions for choosing a location’.
Among the investments that have been fast-tracked by local councils, Cianciotta noted, are those by Cucinelli, Amazon, Irplast and Coca-Cola, whilst the SEZ authorisation for the new De Cecco factory in Ortona was granted in 35 days. Linked to this is the knowledge sector, ranging from the Gran Sasso Laboratories to the universities, with around 45,000 students.