Monthly Briefs

Monthly Brief on the Italian Political Economy – February 2024

LAST MONTH IN BRIEF

01/02 The Minister for Regional Affairs’ Decree establishes January and February as the transition period towards the single Special Economic Zone in Southern Italy, following a law for the reorganisation of the Zones passed in December 2023 (see Deep Dive 1)

03/02 PM Meloni visits the facilities of Enel’s 3Sun—a photovoltaic panel factory which has become a symbol of European ambitions in green industrial policy—and signs a €90 million development contract for the project. (see Deep Dive 2)

08/02 The Minister for Transportation initiates formal discussions with industry representatives to inform the drafting of upcoming reforms to the taxi and PHV sector, including the creation of a national register for these businesses and new regulations for PHVs and digital intermediation platforms

08/02 The Italian Minister for Enterprises and Made in Italy meets EU Commissioners Vestager and Breton to present the guidelines document for the upcoming G7 meeting on Industry and space economy presided by Italy

09/02 The Europe-wide farmers' protest reaches Rome, pushing the government to reintroduce income tax breaks for certain categories of farmers

12/02 The Automotive Cells Company (a JV created by Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies) closes a €4.4 billion debt fundraising programme to support the construction of three gigafactories for lithium-ion battery cells, including one expected to be built by 2026 in the Stellantis site in Termoli (Molise)

15/02 The European Commission approves the “IPCEI Hy2Infra”, the third IPCEI to support hydrogen infrastructure which include three projects  in Italy (Puglia), two for large-scale electrolysers and one for transmission and distribution pipelines

19/02 The Italian Minister for Enterprises and Made in Italy presents the new structure of the Ministry, which now includes, among others, a new dedicated unit for key enabling technologies

20/02 The Minister for Enterprises and Made in Italy signs the decree to place Taranto’s steelmaking plant Acciaierie di Italia (ADI) under special administration (see LUHNIP January monthly brief)

26/02 The government approves a new law to expedite the implementation of the NRRP. It includes a “5.0 Transition Plan”, with €6.3 billion for tax credits to companies making investments to improve their digitalisation and energy efficiency

27/02 Parliament approves the so-called “Capital law”, aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of Italian capital markets (see Graph of the Month)

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