«Dangerous controversies, the EU awaits the new plans»- Corriere.it

Scope is not the biggest rating agency, but probably the most uncompromising. A couple of weeks ago, he published a short report in which he estimates that Italy is facing delays in the investment phase (of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, ed) while the burden falls on the local authorities. Based on data from the Foundation for Local Finance (Ifel) and in the Minister of Economy, Scope also discloses estimates that are little known in Italy: at the end of last year, Italian local authorities had presented around 70,000 projects for the Pnrr, but these are worth only 29.5 billion euros, while the funds allocated to them for investments in the Plan they are worth 40.

Paradoxically, the delays in spending, which are also starting to emerge, do not worry the EU Commission much. Spain has them too and, moreover, the Pnrr is only now entering the phase in which the projects must be implemented. N is very concerned by the comparison for the release by Brussels of the last installment of 19 billion euros. That should come too, soon. On the Italian side, it is considered that fewer than ten specific issues remain to be resolved and, if anything, there is a certain annoyance because there is a rigidity in Brussels that – seen from Rome – would not have existed under the previous government. If anything, the problems are elsewhere, for both sides.

The critical points

In the government there is irritation at how the Court of Auditors has blamed the choice of many Municipalities to plant sprouts in pots instead of planting trees as per the initial plans. In Italy it became a case, but the accounting magistrates did not take into account the fact that the EU Commission had already given the green light to the shortcut of the Municipalities (after all, one of the conditions for receiving the next installment of 19 billion). More generally, for the government it believes it has inherited a Plan that largely needs to be redone. On Saturday in Cagliari Raffaele Fitto raised tensions for the first time: The key for us now is to demonstrate seriousness and responsibility – said the Minister of European Affairs -. If we imagine that controversy prevails, then too bad for everyone. After all, we didn’t write or approve this Pnrr.
Seen from Brussels, the point of attention on Italy is right here: after the announcements, concreteness is required on how to rewrite large parts of the Plan and move everything forward. The Commission is waiting, in an exchange with Rome that is not always fluid. There is still one month to send new proposals. But for the Pnrr to take off, a stronger administrative structure at Palazzo Chigi is urgently needed, who knows how to deal with Brussels and in Italy manages to keep the bureaucracies involved under pressure. The Pnrr will play a large part of its future on this in the coming weeks.