2.2 • 5 Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2022
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
The election in September of the far-right Giorgia Meloni as Italian premier has sent shockwaves around Europe, not least in Brussels. Meloni has raised fears that she'll roll back reforms put in place by her predecessor, encourage a harsher climate when it comes to dealing with asylum seekers and even renegotiate the conditions of the EU's post-Covid Recovery Plan.
In this look at the EU's "levelling up" – efforts aimed at making life more equal across Europe’s many and diverse regions – we travel to Italy, where the conservative government in Rome is pushing back against Brussels on rule-of- law issues. We explore what this stance could mean for EU cohesion funds as well as for the EU's post-Covid Recovery and Resilience programme.
In Italy, we meet Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, former Italian foreign minister Emma Bonino and MEP Vincenzo Sofo from the ruling Brothers of Italy party. Our reporter Luke Brown also travels to the south of the country, where NGOs working with migrants say they’re concerned about the potential for backsliding on human rights.
This show is part of FRANCE 24's new series of Europe Now programmes. We examine both national efforts to level up, and the role that EU funding plays in those attempts. EU structural and cohesion funds have become even more important in the light of the war in Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis, which threatens to increase unequal living standards around Europe.
>> Watch our Europe Now programme on Hungary
Show presented by Armen Georgian, produced by Johan Bodin, filmed on location by Johan Bodin and Stéphane Bodenne, with Luke Brown.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the DG Regional and Urban Policy. Neither the European Union nor the DG Regional and Urban Policy can be held responsible for them.
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
0:00.0 | I'm going to be Hello and welcome to Europe now. We continue this new series of programs about leveling up across the European Union. |
0:39.3 | In this episode, we take you to two countries, Italy and Hungary. |
0:44.6 | The conservative governments in Roman Budapest are forging ties and pushing back against the European Union in some areas. |
0:53.3 | We start this program in Rome. |
0:55.7 | Italy is now led by arguably the most right-wing government in decades. |
1:00.7 | Prime Minister Georgia Maloney has taken positions on issues such as migration, which have ruffled |
1:06.7 | feathers. |
1:07.7 | She's also worried Brussels by saying that she wants to revisit the vast post-COVID |
1:13.1 | stimulus package that was negotiated before she came to power. Maloney says that the package |
1:19.3 | needs to take into account a new reality which is surging inflation here in Italy. |
1:25.8 | Our reporter Sophie Samai takes a closer look at some facts and figures. |
1:30.5 | Does Italy benefit the most from EU cohesion? |
1:34.5 | Ah, Italy, famed for its easygoing lifestyle, its cuisine, its vespers, |
1:39.9 | and its profound economic inequalities between regions. |
1:43.7 | In recent years, Italy has seen the biggest increase in income inequality within the OECD group of developed nations, |
1:52.0 | meaning it makes sense for Italy to be one of the biggest winners when EU cohesion funds are distributed. |
1:58.0 | For the period running 2021 to 2027, Italy is set to receive over 42 billion euros, second only to Poland and ahead of Spain. |
2:07.8 | Two-thirds of those funds are earmarked for projects in the less developed south of the country. |
2:12.9 | 30 billion euros from the ERDF and ESF Plus to boost access to healthcare, education and job opportunities. |
2:20.3 | And a further 1 billion euros from the JTF will support the diversification of economic activity |
2:25.3 | in the regions of Sardinia, Taranto and Puglia. |
2:28.3 | Italy is also the biggest beneficiary of the EU's recovery plan adopted in June 2020. That's worth 192 billion |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -822 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from France Médias Monde, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of France Médias Monde and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.