It was held on 24th November the Smart Talk of Italian-Cypriot Chamber of Commerce with Valerio Valla, founder and CEO of Studio Valla European Consulting, also valued member of the Chamber’s Advisory Board, focusing on “EU Funding and Programmes. Opportunities for Cyprus and Italy Cooperation”.
After the introductory greetings by the President of the Italian-Cypriot Chamber of Commerce Giuseppe Marino, the discussion was moderated by Costas Katsaros, Vice President of the Chamber.
The Smart Talk started highlighting the specificity of European Founding, an area of particular interest for the Chamber that already started talks and cooperation with relevant private and institutional counterparts in Cyprus and in Italy with the aim to play an important role of connector and promoter of initiatives and consortia in several areas.
Mr. Valla referred to the two main EU long-term funding plans, which are Next Generation EU, a new European tool to face the Covid-19 emergency and boot recovery, oriented to a digital and green transition (750 billion euro) and MFF – Multiannual Financial Framework (1074.3 bln euro), together providing an unprecedented €1.8 trillion of funding (1824.3 bln euro). He also spè explained that EU spending programs represent an important opportunity to create consortia and access to those funds, such as Horizon Europe, CEF (Connecting Europe Facilities) or Life Program. Horizon Europe is an ambitious program of 95 billion euro, structured in 3 pillars: Excellent Science addressed to Universities and Research Centres, Global Challences & European Industrial Competitiveness for industry sector, and Innovate Europe for innovation and technology. Another opportunity is represented by Life Program 2021-2027 (5.4 billion euro), which is focused on four pillars: Nature and Biodiversity, Circular Economy and Quality of Life, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Clean Energy Transition.
The third most important EU program is represented by CEF (Connecting Europe Facility), which is the funding instrument for strategic investments in transport, energy and digital infrastructure to promote growth, jobs and competitiveness in the EU and contribute to deliver the European Green Deal. The sectors involved are Energy (budget 5.84 billion euro), Transport and Digital.
Furthermore, Mr. Valla referred in particular on Italy’s Recovery and Resilience Plan that allocates 191.5 bln euro in six Missions: Digitalisation (40,73), Green Revolution (59,33), Infrastructure (25,13), Education and Research (30,88), Inclusion and Cohesion (19,81), Health (15,63). Italy has decided to invest also in tourism and culture (6,68) within the framework of M1.
Also Cyprus NPRR (1,2 bln euro) reflects the integrated and ambitious plan for recovery of the island, with the strategic objective of the Public health (74.1), accelerated Transition to a Green Economy (447.6) strengthening the Resilience and Competitiveness of the economy (449.3), Digitalisation (89.4), Labour market, social protection, education and human capital (172.9)
The conclusions of the event were left to the President of the Italian-Cypriot Chamber of Commerce Giuseppe Marino, who highlighted how the Chamber can be a focal point to create consortia, crucial to prepare suitable projects to access the funds, and to create a direct contact between other enterprises and public bodies.
For further information regarding this article and for insights on the activities of the Italian-Cypriot Chamber of Commerce write to: segreteria@camcomitacipro.it
Last modified: February 1, 2022