There are words and opinions, but then the numbers make the difference. Those that cannot be manipulated, severe and certified, marked by a truth without appeal. Numbers that never, even under torture, will be able to confess the opposite of what they represent. And this time they are disarming, with an avalanche of money in danger of being lost. A chessboard where the State plays a leading role, capable of leaving 90% of the funds available to it unspent for "Development and Cohesion". Sardinia, however, in this ranking of inability to spend on these strategic funds, is not far behind, stopping well below 50% of what it had available.

Numbers without "gazzosa"

In Palazzo Chigi, the Roman residence of the government, there are more rooms than offices, from the "Galere" room to that of the Globes, from the Golden Hall to the Council of Ministers room. And then there is the state bureaucracy, the infinite and verbose one, committees and sub-committees, departments and directions. Among all, however, since always, since Aldo Moro, Prime Minister in 1967 and Emilio Colombo, Minister of the Treasury, established it, there is a forum where the real money passes. A sort of war council for public spending. Since then, and until a few months ago, it has always been for everyone the CIPE, the inter-ministerial committee for economic planning. The mission is framed among the organs of "political direction" of the Government, if only for its composition: chaired by the Head of Government with the presence of as many as 14 Ministers and a representative of the Conference of Presidents of the Regions. The task is to give economic implementation to the decisions of the Government, especially as regards the macro issues of infrastructural planning of the Bel Paese and to give the green light to large projects transversal to the various ministries.

The failure of the shopping

55 years after the third Moro government and just before the advent of Draghi, the banquet of Palazzo Chigi becomes Cipess, the inter-ministerial committee for economic planning, with the addition of "Sustainable Development", just so as not to betray the frivolous and "gazzosara "Innovation of words. Over the years, from a decision-making center, the state planning, that of Cipess, has become an activity of "recycling" of funds, always the same, with a change of name and destination. The failure of programming is punctuated precisely by the continuous "reprogramming" of those funds, a touch of color, terms and acronyms, to make us forget that what had been planned just before had already broken in the shallows of amazing plans far in the air. A sea magnum of funds, all with an expense constraint, then transformed, in the emergency of the "unspent", into an accommodating makeshift to squander even huge resources.

Everything and more

In reality, everything and more are now on the Committee. In the last session, that of April 14, they slipped us, for example, 2 billion for development contracts, programs that very often end up giving non-repayable money to companies with which to try to save deceased activities, or 60 million for the fight against forest fires, or to make sure we don't miss the little gift from Emilia, the integrated mobility project in Bologna. As if nothing had happened, in the final part of the deliberative device on the eve of Easter, the inter-ministerial banquet inserted an item on the agenda that was destined to pass under the radar. The coding, moreover, does not provide for anything interesting: information that does not involve the adoption of a resolution. Too bad, that within that information there was the first annual report on the progress of the interventions of the Development and Cohesion Plans, drawn up by the most powerful of the Ministries, that of the Economy.

Merciless photography

A merciless photograph, without smiles and salamons, all numbers and tables, a comparison of money allocated, actually available, of legally valid spending commitments, or administrative acts adopted, and then the expenditure actually liquidated. In short, the law of numbers, those to be hidden if negative, to be enhanced if positive. Numbers, however, unequivocal, not manipulable, photographed with closed accounts in the last financial year. Under the caudine forks of arithmetic this time there are not only the Regions, but also the Ministries of State. The photo-finish of public spending nails the end of the year 2021, the latest figure for the ministry headed by Daniele Franco, who is the vice-president of the Interministerial Committee.

The double j'accuse

The report to be kept secret in the agenda of the Committee is a double accusation, for the State and for those Regions unable to spend huge resources for infrastructure and development. And it is probably the capacity, or rather the inability to spend by the State, worse than that of the Regions, to induce the silencer to that explosive relationship, from which alarming data emerge. A comparison between the State and the Regions is enough, the Ministries have committed less than 50% of what they had available, while the average of the Regions has stopped at 65%. On payments, it is even worse for Draghi's government and its predecessors: the dicasteries have spent just 8.9% while the average of regional administrations is 46.7%.

State worse than the Regions

Of the 12.8 billion that are likely to remain unspent, with a consequent final financing, 9 billion are in the hands of the state. With the reorganization of the expenditure of cohesion and development funds, the thousand streams of expenditure have ended up giving a devastating picture of the ability of the State and Regions to complete the projects planned even ten years ago.

Millions at risk

The picture of Sardinia is a wake-up call that goes well beyond the risk threshold for hundreds of millions of euros that could be lost between now and the end of the year. The overall figure of the funds distributed proportionally with territorial parameters assign to the Island, for the last two programs of the cohesion funds, a good 5 billion and two million euros. Of these, 3 billion and 101 million are "committed", or 62% of the available sums. The appropriations actually spent are two billion and 63 million, 41.2% of the entire swag of state money delegated to the Sardinian Region for investments, including special projects.

Transport and environment

It is the numbers of sectoral commitments that mark the picture of the real situation. Most of the expenditure items are well below 50% of the available sums. The worst of all is the expenditure on energy-related projects: just 15.8% of the available funds, 125 million, are spent, despite the commitments being 91%. The most significant starting allocations, however, are concentrated on two strategic sectors for the island, “Transport and Mobility” and “Environment and Natural Resources”. In the first case, that of Transport, the Region had one billion and 852 million at its disposal. One billion and 356 million is committed, which corresponds to 73.2%, while less than half was spent, exactly 49.1%. For the Environment and Natural Resources the initial allocation was one billion and 5 million, 604 million committed, 60.1%, while only 42.4% of those funds are actually spent. Data that, attributed to sectors that are decisive for the development of the island, need no comment. Numbers that speak for themselves.

The collapse of education

On a strategic level, given the importance of the sector, the most disheartening data concerns "Education and Training", or investment in future generations. The data in the report is disarming. Out of more than half a billion euros available, exactly 527.77 million euros, 35.1% were committed and 28.8% spent. It goes better in terms of commitments, ie the deliberative acts legally preceding the expenditure, the "Urban redevelopment". In this case, commitments are valid for 93.8% out of a total availability of 294 million, while spending trudges, stopping at just 42.9%. With regard to the "Competitiveness of companies", against allocations of 241 million, 72% were committed and 55.9% spent. In the “Social and Health” sector, with an availability of 201.9 million, 72.3% of resources are committed, while expenditure is still at 40.8%.

The debacle between regions

Finally, the comparison between Regions, those of the North with those of the South, between Sardinia and the rest of Italy. Data and numbers that it is difficult to find sufficient mirrors for climbing of any kind. The comparison between 99.4% of expenditure in the Autonomous Province of Trento, 26% in Campania and 45.1 in Sardinia is pitiless. It is the high end of spending that leaves no room for doubt: most of the northern regions are over 90% of spending, 5 regions, Campania, Calabria, Puglia, Sicily and Sardinia, on the other hand, are below the minimum threshold of 50. %. A defeat of the South and the Islands that leaves open a disarming chapter, that linked to the capacity (or inability) of planning by the political class and the efficiency (or inefficiency) of the public administration. There are hundreds of millions of euros at risk. Nowadays it will be difficult to ask for and obtain more, if you are not able to spend the ones you already have and do not use.

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