(Finance) – “Today the Commission services had a meeting with Minister Raffaele Fitto on the Italian Pnrr. We have regular meetings of this type with all the Member States. The meeting took place in a positive and constructive atmosphere. They were the following topics were discussed: the revision of the Italian plan, the imminent fourth payment request and the organization of work on the recovery plan in the future”. This is what a spokesman for the EU Commission said yesterday after themeeting between the Minister for EU Affairs, the South and the Pnrr Raffaele Fitto and the head of the European Recovery Task Force, Celine Gauer. “It went very well, I’m optimistic. We are working in a positive way” commented Fitto at the end of the meeting.
In the meeting, government sources explain, “the global review of the Pnrr, including the new chapter RePowerEe”. The work on the revision of the Pnrr – the same sources explain – “will continue in the coming weeks in the framework of the close collaboration between the Italian Government and the European Commission”.
The meeting with the Recovery Task Force was used for “a first discussion after the summer break on the implementation of the Pnrr”, government sources say. In addition to the revision of the Pnrr with the addition of the Repower chapter, “particular note was taken of the positive discussions held at the meeting of the Economic Policy Committee on the third installment of the Pnrr and at the meeting of Economic and Financial Committee on the amendments to the fourth installment, which should allow Italy to shortly receive the disbursement of the third installment of 18.5 billion euros, and to submit the request for payment of the fourth installment in the coming weeks”.
After sending the variation proposal which affects 144 projects and reforms (out of the approximately 350 initially planned) with Fitto’s mission to Brussels, the negotiations on the new Pnrr have entered into full swing. The new Pnrr revises various objectives, starting with those linked to the fifth installment of 18 billion. These could be requested in the early days of 2024, after completing the goals within the year. Again in 2024, the government will also be able to request the sixth installment, of 11 billion. While in 2025 on the table are the seventh of 18 billion, and the eighth of 11 billion. The ninth installment of 13 billion and the tenth of 18.1 billion are expected in 2026.
The ok on third installment it should, instead, arrive at the latest with the next one Ecofin, scheduled for next week but which could already be brought forward during the week by some of the councils envisaged, and collection is therefore expected shortly. On the basis of the compromise reached with the European Commission, 54 objectives have been achieved (instead of the 55 envisaged in the time schedule) and the check will be worth 18.5 billion euros (instead of 19). The missing 500 million, relating to beds for university students, will be postponed to the fourth installment.
In the meantime, the latest investigations by the Commission into the changes made by the government to the targets relating to health are already underway fourth installment, which would have 28 targets (instead of 27) and a value of 16.5 billion (instead of 16). Once the formal authorization has been obtained, Italy will make an official request for the fourth installment, with the aim of collecting the tranche by the end of the year.