Revitalizing Campania’s Agricultural Sector

“We will focus on the innovation of agricultural companies, on generational renewal because it is necessary to encourage the presence of young people in agricultural enterprises and it is necessary to review the landscape plan without deceiving citizens as has been done in the past.” This was stated by the center-right candidate in the regional elections in Campania, Edmondo Cirielli, who today met with Copagri, emphasizing that “agriculture is at the center of our electoral campaign” and recalling that the government has allocated 14 billion for the sector. An allocation, he adds, “because we believe in food sovereignty. The war in Ukraine and tariffs have shown that we must be able to respond to emergencies, and this is done precisely through food sovereignty.” According to Cirielli, the agricultural sector in Campania is closely linked “to another important industry which is agri-food, and we want to work even more to create a strong supply chain between those who produce, those who process the products, and those who do marketing. We need to reduce intermediate steps and increase the value of the chain, primarily for farmers, and we must ensure that people remain in rural areas by reducing hardships and, therefore, increasing services in those areas.” “Could be.” This is how the center-right candidate responded to journalists who asked him about a possible new visit to Campania by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni before the vote on the upcoming Sunday and Monday. “If Fico says it’s ignorant, I have to worry because I know he understands these things. He should know that I am someone who speaks after being informed: I had a study done, I asked both INPS and the Ministry of Labor, and it is something feasible that has already been done by other regions,” said the center-right candidate, responding remotely to both Roberto Fico, who reiterated today that “it is impossible to increase minimum pensions by 100 euros with European funds,” but also to the outgoing governor De Luca, who called right-wing representatives ‘donkeys’ who do not know that European social funds cannot be used for income support policies. “Fico,” Cirielli emphasized, on the sidelines of the meeting with industrialists, “should rather explain why he proposed the citizenship income using those funds, this is something ignorant because it cannot be done. Only the national government can do the citizenship income, when you want to use European funds instead, you need to have a specific EU derogation requested by the national government. Mine is a measure made with European funds and a measure already provided for by the ESF precisely on poverty aid and income support, so it is an absolutely feasible thing.” “A housing plan and a new urban planning law are needed, a new landscape plan because the one in force is over 50 years old and the urban planning law is 20 years old,” said Cirielli, responding to Roberto Fico who proposed a 1 billion euro plan for public housing. “It is right that there is public housing – but subsidized residential construction is also necessary. We must allow poor people, but also the middle class, to be able to have a home.” And furthermore, “it will also be necessary to reevaluate and enhance abandoned, disused, industrial, commercial areas rather than large abandoned public buildings, I also think of barracks.”