State of play as regards the implementation of Italy’s NRRP

Subject: State of play as regards the implementation of Italy’s NRRP

A series of contradictory remarks have been made over the past weeks in Italy about the state of play as regards the implementation of the NRRP. While former Prime Minister Mario Draghi said that the implementation of the NRRP is on track, Giorgia Meloni, the to-be head of government, said that there are obvious delays that will be difficult to make up for.

Political controversy aside, the recent note updating the Economic and Financial Document (EFD) shows that the amount actually spent on NRRP projects this year will be lower than estimated in the 2022 EFD as a number of projects began later than intended, and this despite the fact that the qualitative targets set for the first half of 2022 have been met.

Out of the 191.5 billion allocated to Italy, only 21 instead of the 29.4 foreseen in the 2022 EFD will actually be spent this year.

These spending capacity issues are having an impact on the growth, recovery and resilience objectives of the NRRP.

In the light of the above, can the Commission say:

1. Where the implementation of Italy’s NRRP is at in terms of objectives/targets met and above all in terms of funding already used and expenditure certified to the Commission?

2. What actions it could take to speed up spending?

3. As things stand, whether it does not think that all the conditions are still in place for the new Italian Government to be able to achieve the objectives set out in the PNRR?

Submitted: 18.10.2022

Answer given by Mr Gentiloni on behalf of the European Commission

(13 February 2023)

The Italian authorities have so far implemented the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) according to the agreed schedule and, accordingly, the Commission has disbursed almost EUR 67 billion (EUR 24.9 billion in pre-financing and EUR 21 billion for each of the two payment requests).

As the Recovery and Resilience Facility is a performance-based programme, these disbursements are based on the fulfilment of milestones and targets, rather than actual expenditure incurred by the Member States to implement the measures.

The RRP has entered a crucial phase with the concrete implementation of envisaged reforms and the roll-out of investments on the ground.

The third payment request has been submitted by Italy on 30 December 2022 and is currently under assessment by the Commission. It envisages a disbursement of EUR 19 billion, based on the achievement of 55 milestones and targets.