Contacts

Infrastructure: Working to Get Back to Growth

, by Carlo Secchi - professore di economics of european integration alla Bocconi, translated by Alex Foti
The European Commission is financing infrastructure for €50 billion: provisions in transportation, energy and ICT are indispensable to interconnect EU countries and improve Italian efficiency and competitiveness

There is clear link between the building of major infrastructure and economic growth. If in the short term, public works have a beneficial countercyclical effect, once infrastructures are in place they contribute to improving efficiency and competitiveness and thus promote growth, especially in Italy, which is lagging behind in economic terms.
At the European level there is a strong commitment in this respect, with the launch of the Europe 2020 strategy for competitiveness and growth. The work of the European Commission for the improvement and expansion of infrastructural networks (transport, energy, ICT) found completion on October 19, 2011, with the drafting of an overall proposal for the 2014-2020 Financial Framework.
Particularly important is the new approach concerning the transport infrastructure (Ten-T). The novelty lies both in design and financial aspects. Previously, it was about joining national projects with a few transnational links, but now the overall framework is based on a single European core network (to be concluded by 2030), which is to be integrated by individual states with their own global networks (the so-called comprehensive network – deadline 2050).
The main aim is to support the Single Market and European cohesion, favoring the mobility of people and goods across Europe and the rest of the world.Attention is given both to growth and environmental aspects, also an important part of the Europe 2020 strategy. Direct and indirect spillovers will be significant, especially for high-tech firms. The financial outlays are sizable, especially considering the current economic difficulties. The Connecting Europe facility fund should consist of €50 billion, 32 for transportation networks, a much larger sum than what is currently available (€8 billion for the 2007-2013 period). The facility's resources will be complemented by new financial instruments, such as project bonds and warrants. Public-private partnerships will be especially important for project financing and to have access to loans made by the European Investment Bank. It's fundamental to choose projects well, so as to make them attractive for private investors.
The core network is composed of ten multimodal transeuropean corridors. Of these, four cross Italy. Multimodality is required to achieve the integrated management of the various modes of transportation that connect the main European nodes, and these with the rest of the world.
An important process for the future of Europe has thus been started. Under the guidance of the Commission, national and local governments, as well as stakeholders, have been positively involved. This leads one to hope for a quantum leap in the logistics of territorial and economic integration, thus bringing to fruition a process started in the 1990s, which has already brought considerable benefits for EU citizens and firms.