On the one hand, the official declarations of governments celebrating the exceeding of spending targets and the simplification of procedures. On the other hand, the complaints of small local administrations and businesses denouncing the lack of staff and the unsustainability of the new procedural constraints.
But in short, Are European cohesion funds really accessible to those who work in the area, or is bureaucratic complexity transforming a growth opportunity into an insurmountable obstacle course?
This is a crucial question especially when considering the Italian case. Because experience has taught us that the real problem of our country is not that of losing the funding that comes from Brussels, but of not always being able to transform them into opportunities for development in the area, precisely because of administrative delays.
Between environmental compliance to be respected, a chronic shortage of qualified personnel in public administration and tenders that are often too complex for small businesses, the shadow of not being able to channel them in the best possible way for all potentially interested actors constantly hovers over the 73.5 billion euros between European and national funds assigned from cohesion policy to Italy in the 2021-2027 programming cycle.
Is Italy really incapable of spending European funds?
The money is allocated. But how?
Although the common perception is of a chronic inability to spend, when it comes to Italy and European funds, in the period 2014-2020 it was demonstrated a clear ability to pass the crucial test of automatic disengagement, i.e. that the country did not have to return significant portions of unspent funds by the deadline.
Regarding the current programming period, data updated at the beginning of 2026 they certify 8.9 billion euros already spent – of which 4.7 billion in funds arriving from Brussels, beyond the initial target of 3.6 billion. This is a result that suggests that, at least at the level of central and regional administrations, the payments machine has started to run faster than the minimum forecasts.
However, the expenditure certified by Rome should not be confused with the ease of access to funds for beneficiaries in the area. In other words, where and how does this money come from? Much of these funds are linked to large national programs or large-scale infrastructure projects managed by central administrations, which then run into implementation problems on the ground.
This is demonstrated by the gap between two data: the actual payments and the resources committed, i.e. the portion of funds formally assigned to specific projects, tenders or operational programs, but not yet physically paid to the final beneficiaries.
As of 31 August 2025, the overall progress in Italy regarding the 2021-2027 cohesion policy it was attested at 8.03 percent on payments, or just a third of all resources committed (27.16 percent).
In other words, this means that, although the resources are formally allocated to specific projects, the actual delivery in the area is slowed down by procedures that clash with the reality of local authorities and businesses.
Without forgetting the gap between regional speeds, which always remains marked. If the Northern regions show a capacity to absorb and publish notices quickly above averagethe regions of Southern Italy present critical issues that risk accumulating structural delays in the coming years.
“Do no significant harm”
One of the bureaucratic obstacles most cited by beneficiaries in recent years is the introduction of a new principle in the context of European funds: “Do not cause significant harm to the environment”, abbreviated with the acronym Dnsh (from the English “Do No Significant Harm”).
Born within the Green Deal European, this principle imposes that each funded intervention is assessed for its impact on six specific environmental objectives: mitigation and adaptation to climate change, the sustainable use of water resources, the transition towards the circular economy, the prevention of pollution and the protection of biodiversity.
The application of the DNSH is not a simple formality, but requires detailed technical documentation, self-assessments and checks during the reporting phase which many municipalities define “a difficult relationship”.
Even seemingly simple interventions, such as the purchase of special vehicles for waste collection or the renovation of small public buildings, must undergo rigorous checklists that require external specialist expertise to ensure, for example, that at least 70 percent of demolition waste is recovered.
Violation of these principles can lead to the suspension or total revocation of funding, creating a climate of uncertainty that often discourages participation in tenders by actors who are not certain of having the capacity to support these criteria on their own.
Scams and errors, this is how we waste cohesion funds (even if less and less)
The technical staff crisis
Another factor that makes access to cohesion funds more complicated is the chronic shortage of qualified personnel within local public administration.
The National Association of Italian Municipalities (Anci) he repeatedly denounced that many municipalities, especially the smaller ones and those located in internal or more remote areas, do not have sufficient professional figures to manage the complex tender procedures, monitoring on IT portals and financial reporting.
The lack of human resources mainly concerns the quality of professional profiles, in a context in which staff are increasingly older and procedures are more digitalised, while public competitions struggle to attract young people to the public sector.
To demonstrate the urgency of responding to the emergency of administrative under-capacity, the government has activated the National capacity program for cohesion (PN CapCoe)which involves the extraordinary recruitment of 2,200 professionals to be allocated exclusively to the management of cohesion policy in the local authorities of the regions most in difficulty – specifically Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily.
These figures include technical specialists for environmental design and verification, legal-administrative experts for procurement management, economic-statistical specialists for financial monitoring and digital transition professionals.
Despite the publication of the rankings in 2025, the process of administrative strengthening is burdened by the long times of the selection procedures, while many municipalities continue to report the bureaucratic short circuit between spending obligations and staff shortages.
Innovation and green transition: this is how cohesion policy supported the development of Northern Italy
The complexity of the tenders
In addition to the management difficulties of public bodies, the critical issues of the private sector, equally affected by cohesion policy, should not be forgotten.
In this case, access to European funds appears to be a challenge of size rather than of technical knowledge and ability to recruit specialists, especially as regards local micro and small businesses, the productive backbone of regions such as Veneto, Lombardy and Piedmont.
As highlighted by a report by Confartigianatoalthough small and medium-sized enterprises are on paper at the center of cohesion policy, their effective participation is limited by high entry barriers.
Many economic activities consider the public aid system to be too oriented towards the largest and most advanced industrial entities, with little action to support the rest of the production chain. All this translates into greater difficulties in translating subsidies into innovation spread across the entire territory.
For example, access to finance for digitalisation and the green transition – two of Brussels’ most pressing priorities – requires a planning capacity that micro-businesses do not possess internally. It is thus mandatory for them to turn to external consultants, the cost of which can erode much of the economic benefit expected from the return on investments.
In the regions of Northern Italy, the use of Smart specialization strategy has made it possible to finance projects with high added value, such as Tecnopolo Data Manifattura of Bolognaan international hub of excellence for supercomputing and artificial intelligence.
However, digital transformation remains a difficult goal to achieve for companies with fewer than ten employees, which they only represent a minimal fraction of the actual beneficiaries of European funds.
Simplify reporting
In response to complaints about bureaucracy, the European Union has stepped up its use of Cost simplification optionsa reporting method that can facilitate the ability of small public administrations and businesses to intercept funds without running into the complex web of the past.
Instead of having to justify every single expense through invoices, payment is increasingly based on predefined parameters. Among these, flat rate financing stands out – i.e. those in which a fixed percentage covers indirect costs by reducing the documents to be collected – standard scales of unit costs, which reimburse fixed amounts for each result (such as an hour of staff training), and lump sums paid upon achievement of clear objectives.
It is estimated that the massive adoption of these options could not only reduce the error rate in reporting, but also reduce total administrative costs by approximately 25 percent. Exactly what is being asked of the territories in Brussels.
