“Editing is delicate work.” By June the controls of the EU Commission – Corriere.it

It is controversy aboutgovernment amendment to the PA decree presented in committee in the Chamber which contains two different rules concerning the controls of the Court of Auditors. The government has proposed in the Labor and Constitutional Affairs commissions the one-year extension (from 30 June 2023 to 30 June 2024) of the so-called tax shield which limits the possibility of challenging the tax damage only to some relevant cases and has proposed the exclusion of Court of Auditors from the «concomitant control» on the Pnrr. The measures were proposed to streamline the implementation of the Pnrr but have drawn criticism from both magistrates and the opposition.

Concomitant control: what it is

In particular, the amendment on concurrent control would remove the Plan from ongoing scrutiny by the Court of Auditors, which therefore could not fully assess the goodness of the expenditure of the funds of the Pnrr. Concomitant control can be requested by the parliamentary commissions and has as its objective, as they explain on the Chamber website, “to intervene on an ongoing basis during the implementation of a plan, program or project, exercising an accelerator and propulsive action of the administrative action and ensuring, at the same time, the correct use of the resources assigned to public management”.

The meeting at Palazzo Chigi

In the meantime, on a front connected to Palazzo Chigi, the control room on the Pnrr is starting.

At the center of the discussion is the six-monthly report to the Chambers on the state of implementation of the Plan after the controversies of recent days on delays. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the introduction to the report on the implementation plan of the Pnrr writes that the government has worked in concert with the EU in a “fundamental reconnaissance phase because it is preparatory to the next step: the intensification of the confrontation, as established with the European Union, for formalize the proposed amendments to the Plan by the deadline of 31 August 2023, with the contextual integration of the RePowerEU chapter”. It is, we read, an “extremely delicate job that the government is carrying out with the utmost attention and with great responsibility”.

The theme of the six-monthly objectives

The Prime Minister adds that on the implementation of the Pnrr “the government will continue to work, in agreement with the European Commission, not only to achieve the next six-monthly objectives but to fully implement all the Plan, which is and will continue to be a crucial tool for Italy’s growth, innovation and development». At the meeting, chaired by the minister for the Pnrr Raffaele Fitto, the ministers involved in the reforms of the Plan.

The six-monthly report reads: “In the second half of June, technical meetings will be held with the services of the EU Commission to verify the admissibility of the modification and/or reprogramming requests”. Fitto explains: “As soon as the methods and terms for the overall revision of the Plan are agreed, the government will present the updated framework of the revision proposals to Parliament, before the official transmission to the European Commission”.

strategic works

Among the intervention hypotheses is the ‘movement’ of some strategic works charged to the Structural Funds and the Development and Cohesion Fund. The report reads: “Some interventions of a national strategic nature could be safeguarded by placing them under the 2021-2027 programming of the Structural Funds and the 2021-2027 Development and Cohesion Fund in relation to the spending time objectives”.

Ministers at the table

Also present at the meeting were the Minister of Public Administration Paolo Zangrilo, the Minister for Reforms Elisabetta Casellati, the Minister for Regional Affairs Roberto Calderoli, the Minister for Disability Alessandra Locatelli, the Minister for the South and the Sea Nello Musumeci, the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio, the Minister of Industry Adolfo Urso, the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida, the Minister of the Environment Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, the Minister of University and Research Anna Maria Bernini, the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara, the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci and the Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanché.

Also present were the governor of Lombardy Attilio Fontana (representing the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces) and Michele Pascale, president of the Upi and the president of Anci Antonio Decaro.