For the South 2.200 new hires to improve the use of European funds: the competition is underway

The RIPAM competition announcement for the hiring of 2.200 new officials, in the territorial administrations of Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily and at the Department for Cohesion Policies and for the South, organized by the Department of Public Function of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, in agreement with the Department for Cohesion Policies and for the South. The Government initiative – supported by the European Commission and financed with European and national resources through the National Capacity Programme for Cohesion 2021-2027 – provides for permanent contracts, for additional personnel compared to the allocation of the recipient institutions.

The insertion of young recent graduates It also responds to the strategic objectives of the Government in terms of modernization of public administration, with a view to improving the effectiveness of public action through innovation, digitalization and new skills.

The President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, expressed great satisfaction for this important result: "A commitment made by the Government to meet the needs repeatedly expressed by the territories and to offer new opportunities to young people. This is an important strengthening of the administrative capacity of the regions of Southern Italy which, with new talents and skills, will have new impetus for the implementation of projects financed by the cohesion policy".

The new hires will, in fact, be dedicated to ensuring a more efficient use of European funds and accelerate the socio-economic development of the territories involved, thus contributing to the overall growth of the nation and to the reduction of historical territorial gaps.

In particular, the national competition responds to the needs for strengthening expressed, through an expression of interest, by Municipalities, Union of Municipalities, Provinces, Metropolitan Cities and Regions of the areas involved, and is included among the Government's priorities for qualify the use of European resources, improve spending performance and thus ensure the full achievement of the objectives of cohesion policy in the South.

The competitive procedures will be concluded by the end of 2024 and the winners will participate in a training course focused on cohesion policies, so as to be fully operational from the spring of the 2025.

Furthermore, for those institutions that will not be able to benefit from the new hires, an initiative is planned parallel strengthening, to support the full implementation of cohesion policy projects on the territory through a technical-specialist support service, also financed in this case with resources from the National Capacity Programme for Cohesion 2021-2027.

Also the Minister for European Affairs, the South, Cohesion Policies and the PNRR, Raffaele Fitto, commented: “This result is the fruit of months of intense and fruitful work, through continuous dialogue with the territories and with the European Commission. As we promised in the coalition program, we are making the use of European resources increasingly efficient, also thanks to the specialization of over two thousand new skills that will be specifically trained on this. This is a unique opportunity for Italy”.