from kindergartens to Cinecittà, what will have changed – Corriere.it

The fault of the fact that Italy has not yet received from Brussels the third installment of funding of the Pnrr, equal to 19 billion, relating to the objectives that had to be achieved by 31 December last, does not lie with this government but with the previous one, i.e. of the Draghi executive. In any case, the Meloni government believes it has solved the problems raised by the European Commission and therefore expects the 19 billion to be released within a few weeks. Then there are other critical issues concerning the 27 objectives that Italy must achieve by next June and here the government is discussing both with the commission and with the municipalities to remodulate three investments in particular, which concern nursery schools, hydrogen for road transport, cinecittà. Finally, the government wants to identify as of now the interventions that cannot be implemented within the deadline set by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, i.e. June 2026, to open negotiations with Brussels and obtain the necessary changes to the Pnrr. All in collaboration with Parliament and with the aim of “full implementation of the Plan”. This is the line illustrated by the Minister of European Affairs, Raffaele Fitto, in the Senate for the urgent information requested by the oppositions.

Blame the Draghi government

The same oppositions to which Fitto has deferred all the accusations. The 19 billion have not yet arrived, said the minister, because the European commission has raised objections to three interventions, all ordered by the Draghi government and falling within the 25 that that same executive considered concluded when last October there was the passage of deliveries with the Meloni government. These are the interventions on the stadium in Florence and for the Bosco dello sport in Venice, which Brussels deems cannot be financed with the Pnrr; the reform of port concessions and some gas-fired district heating plants. On all three issues, Fitto explained, the government has sent or is sending administrative documents and inter-ministerial decrees to Brussels that comply with the commission’s requests and therefore the installment should soon be released. Fitto also rejected the criticisms of the opposition on the governance reform, which centralizes the management of the Pnrr at Palazzo Chigi. It is not true, he underlined, that this happened to the detriment of the ministries, where indeed the recent decree provides for the stabilization of the personnel of the mission units, nor against the regional and local administrations which had approved the governance reform in the joint conference.

The three critical points

As regards the 27 objectives that Italy should achieve by next June, Fitto spoke of three critical points. They concern nursery schools, because not all municipalities will be able to close the tenders; the experimentation of hydrogen on the motorway network, because the requests from the companies in the sector are lower than the financial resources available (but even this is not a fault that can be attributed to the government, says the minister); and the plans regarding Cinecittà, because even these will not be able to meet the June 30 deadline. On all of this, says Fitto, “a constant review is needed during construction, but without alarmism”. And “the same thing will have to be done with regard to the final objectives of June 2026, also in relation to the change of strategy” resulting from the fact that the Pnrr was imagined in a different framework, before the war and the energy crisis.

RepowerEu

Of course, on this last point, the EU has launched the RepowerEU program and Italy, like the other countries, is working to prepare the supplementary chapter to the Pnrr. Which as far as we are concerned should be financed for at least 6-7 billion. Fitto then assured that the government will keep Parliament constantly informed and that it is important to start discussions with the EU on changes to the Plan now before it is too late and a difficult to manage “litigation” opens. The government intends to verify with the implementing bodies the feasibility of complying with the individual interventions and obtain from them the certification that they will be able to close the works within the established timescales, in order to protect the government from the discharge of liability. It will be a “painstaking job, to bring out the problems clearly and correct the critical issues today, because the goal remains to fully implement the Pnrr”.