There is more sand than earth in Limburg. Infinite expanses, smoothed every day by the Meuse, that river that becomes a ford and border for the eternal Maastricht, the capital of this Euroregion par excellence, straddling Holland, Belgium and Germany. This is where the European treaties were born, those that gave birth to the European Union and the euro, at least theoretically. This strip of Europe contends with Sardinia, the Sos Enattos mine in Lula, the primacy of universal silence, the one necessary to build the Einstein Telescope, the largest cosmic "ear" on earth intended to intercept gravitational waves, the mystery of the cosmos. If there is a crevice where it can be said that the modern Union of European states was born, this is it.
Rebalancing & gaps
Rebalancing treaties, cohesion parameters, one-size-fits-all rules, stability pacts and the single currency. All here, in the think tank of Europe. In this old duchy, however, not only the ambition of European unity at all costs is consumed, but also the most evident of the contradictions of the old continent. This is not sanctioned by the ancient dogma of protest or perennial lamentation, as some would like to enigmatically translate the feeble call to "cohesion" and "rebalancing" between states and regions of Europe. If there were a European constitution, proclaimed far and wide, article one would have had no escape from a mission as announced as it was violated: to catch up with the weak regions, rebalance infrastructures, disadvantages and gaps. Where Europe was born, however, it is also in fact buried.
The data speaks
The data, the objective analyses, the comparisons between the different areas of Europe, between strong and weak regions, say so. The gap between rich and poor is not a cheap lament. Just open the interactive map just launched by the European Commission on the regional competitiveness index, the one called two point zero, theoretically of the future, to understand that there is no challenge: the rich will always be richer and the poor always poorer. The range of gaps does not narrow, but widens, more and more. Limburg, with one million one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, is in 13th place in the ranking of the 233 regions of Europe. Its competitiveness index, a mix of infrastructures, territorial services, businesses and individuals, just recorded by the Directorate-General for Regional Policy, is well above the European average. If the European base index is 100, Limburg has an index of 131.6, which places it in the top of Europe, a stone's throw from the number one region, Utrecht, also coincidentally in the heart of the Netherlands , with an index of 150.9. There is no history with Sardinia. To find the Isola dei Nuraghi you have to scroll through the rankings to sink beyond the 200 regions, out of the 233 of the European analysis. To meet the parameters of the largest and most genuine insular and outermost region of Europe, Sardinia, you have to reach the abyss, at step number 203. An emblematic position, above all because it is the latest official elaboration of the European Commission, a datum certified with the stamp of Brussels. There can be no superfluous reflections on the reliability of the data, it is simply the official one.
Merciless comparison
In this ranking just launched by the Directorate General for Regional Policies, however, an even more serious comparison emerges than the same poor positioning recorded at the end of 2022. The Excel folder for processing European data, with all the parameters and calculation algorithms , proposes, in fact, the very heavy comparison with the two previous analyses, that of 2016 and that of 2019. A merciless comparison from which the collapse of the parameters of Sardinia emerges starting from the position in the ranking of the regions of Europe. In 2016 the Island was positioned in 160th place out of 233, in 2019 it had lost two positions placing itself on step 162.
Red thermometer
In 2022 the European thermometer of competitiveness marks the collapse, throwing Sardinia from mid-table to the Greek calends, up to 203rd place, a stone's throw from the hell of the last places. The analysis is ruthless in the details, with the competitiveness index managing to retreat not only in comparison with the other regions of Europe, but also with respect to the data of the latest regional survey, that of 2019. The basis for calculating the he European index is 100. There are regions like the first in Europe which are well above that. Consider that the first region, Utrecht, in the Netherlands, scores a competitiveness index of 150.9. For Sardinia also in this case it means slums. If three years ago the island had an index of 68.9 now it has even gone back, settling at 67.4 of the European average. A defeat.
Infrastructure
Parameters that placed one on top of the other are the objective reading of a land, the Sardinian one, devastated by the absence of infrastructures and services, with the absence of connections that place it on the margins of the European market, both as regards goods and people. The infrastructural index measured by Europe is a slap in the face to insularity, that which concerns the connection to the outside, but also a significant blow on the internal level. On the infrastructural side, in fact, Sardinia, instead of advancing, regresses, demonstrating that all the others are catching up and increasingly limiting the interregional gaps. Also in this case the basic index of European infrastructure is 100.
Reverse gear
The first region in Europe is "Ile de France" which in 2022 records an index of 185.8, 85% more than the calculation basis. Sardinia plummets to the bottom of the infrastructural classification with an eloquent figure: 61.3 compared to the 100 index of the European base. An indicator that measures roads and railways, transport connections and primary services. The fundamental indexes, efficiency and innovation, are included in the overall picture, put under observation by the Brussels offices. Priority pillars of the European analysis are institutions, macroeconomic stability, infrastructure, basic health and education, higher education and lifelong learning, labor market efficiency, market size, technological readiness, business sophistication and innovation.
Small consolation
There are not many elements of consolation even with the comparison with the other Italian regions: on a par with Sardinia, for infrastructural index, there are Puglia, Basilicata and Sicily. In the general European ranking, always in the lower parts, you can find Puglia (204th), Basilicata (205th), Sicily (214th), and, finally, Calabria (220th). However, it will be enough to insert the funds that are being foreseen for the Pnrr and the large infrastructures of southern Italy, starting with the construction of the bridge over the Strait, to structurally and definitively plunge Sardinia into the sad ranking of competitiveness among European Regions. Here, in Sardinian land, only wind turbines and deserted villages will remain. The longed-for rebalancing, both insular and European, risks becoming an eternal mirage, sold off to the highest bidder.
