The EU will deal with the Brexit budget deficit after 2020 with cuts to regions in Northern Italy that are currently dependent on EU funding.
The president of Tuscany has penned a panicked article as regions across the bloc grapple with a forthcoming €70billion budget deficit after Britain’s EU contributions stop.
Two alternate EU plans foretell very different futures – one says resources will be maintained at current levels while another predicts cuts of 15-30 per cent.
If the cuts are implemented, Tuscany stands to lose €1.5billion in the first EU budget after Britain quits the bloc.
President of Tuscany Enrico Rossi wrote in Il Sole 24 Ore: “EU funds are the main tool for guiding the economic policies of the regions.
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“They address planning strategies and they are the driving force behind any type of regional public investment.
“They translate into infrastructures, aid to businesses, fight against unemployment, support for research and innovation and the fight against climate change.”
Mr Rossi said the Italian government was not paying enough attention to how a lack of funds could affect Italy.
He said: “This lack of attention, which risks extending due to the next elections, as well as the Brexit negotiations in Brussels, can cost dear to our country. For Southern Italy it would be disastrous.”
Mr Rossi added that Italy would be hard-pressed to stump up to fill the budget gap after Brexit.
He has backed an EU-wide tax on financial trading in the hope of raising more funds to be sent out to the regions.
It comes after Britain agreed to pay a Brexit divorce bill estimated to total at least £40 billion to settle its accounts with the EU.
Some hardline Brexiteers have blasted Prime Minister Theresa May for saying Britain will pay for its “liabilities” to settle up the account with the EU which could be in the region of £40bn.
Figures released by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predict the cost of the UK staying in the European Union for just four more years after the Brexit leaving date of March 2019 would be £55bn.
Transfers are set to rise by 25 per cent next year from £9.9billion to £12.5billion.
Britain’s departure from the EU is therefore set to leave a substantial hole in the bloc’s finances.
Additional reporting by Maria Ortega.