Northern and southern Italian employers' organisations signed an agreement in May 1998 on transferring 30 enterprises located in Lombardy to the Crotone area.
Download article in original language : IT9805169NIT.DOC
Northern and southern Italian employers' organisations signed an agreement in May 1998 on transferring 30 enterprises located in Lombardy to the Crotone area.
Northern industrial employers are making a concerted effort to create new jobs in the South of Italy and on 18 May 1998, Assolombarda- the employers' association for the Lombardy area, affiliated to Confindustria- and Assindustria- the Crotone employers' association - signed an agreement on transferring 30 enterprises located in Lombardy to Crotone. Two months previously, an "area agreement" had been signed for the Crotone area (IT9803155N), providing advantages for enterprises that invest there, such as simplified and shorter administrative procedures, labour flexibility and security.
Confindustria is encouraging this kind of North-South agreement and, after the "twinning agreement" signed in March 1998 by northern enterprises located in Vicenza and Treviso and southern enterprises located in Manfredonia (Foggia) (IT9803156N), it is now the turn of Assolombarda to promote the development of the Crotone area (in Calabria).
Under the new agreement, the most substantial investments will be made by: Candea, a chemicals company which will employ 100 workers; Marcegaglia which, together with Thermo Ecotek (USA), will make an investment of ITL 400 billion to set up an electrical power plant employing 150 workers; and Saltel, a company created by TIM (Telecom Italia and Itainvest), which will employ 270 workers for "customer care" activities aimed at Telecom Italia mobile phone users.
Under the deal, the northern enterprises have also committed themselves to using southern enterprises as suppliers. The Società per l'imprenditoria giovanile, a government agency which supports the creation of new enterprises, will financially assist all the enterprises of the Crotone area to obtain quality certification.
Crotone employers have underlined that this kind of agreement should not be seen as a sort of northern "colonisation" of the South but rather as a joint venture, a productive collaboration and an exchange of technologies in a perspective of mutual cooperation.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1998), 30 Milan companies are moving to Crotone, article.
