73 years have passed since the historic date of 9 May 1950, when the then French Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community.
It was an ambitious plan designed to ensure long-term peace after the war; the first members to join were France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, thus creating the first supranational European institution.
Schuman's declaration reads: "Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity."
Since then, a long path of economic and political union has been undertaken, which over the years has seen the creation of the European Economic Community, the direct election of the European Parliament and the birth of the single market. Not to mention travel without borders and the introduction of the euro as legal tender. There are now 27 member states and European institutions have evolved to make the EU ever more united and resilient.
CDP in Europe
The CDP Group promotes integration and collaboration at a European level. For this reason it maintains an ongoing presence in Brussels, which it shares with both other National Promotion Institutes and some investee companies.
Its strong positioning aims to facilitate Italy’s relations with Europe and to attract resources for the benefit of the country’s enterprises and general government.
This applies to the agreements signed last July with the EIB (European Investment Bank) to stimulate public and private investment, improve the selection and financing of green projects and release new funding worth over a billion euros for public entities, especially in Central and Southern Italy.
In terms of European programmes, CDP Spa and CDP Equity are executive partners of InvestEU, and in the last six months have mobilised a total of over €1.2 billion to invest in enterprises, startups and social infrastructure and strengthen their advisory activities. They also hold an executive partner role for CEF Transport in the field of sustainable mobility, and for the Technical Support Instrument, which is aimed at offering member states technical assistance in designing and developing reforms.
In addition, CDP makes its expertise available to facilitate the implementation of the NRRP. The Plan is part of the "Next Generation EU" programme created to help relaunch member states after the Covid-19 pandemic and build a greener, more digital and resilient Europe. This commitment translates into the direct management of resources related to strategic initiatives and technical and administrative consultancy for national and local bodies.