Government, Pnrr chaos – La Stampa

ROME-BRUSSELS. Great is the confusion under the sky of the Pnrr. The latest decision by the Italian government, which officially communicated to Brussels its interest in obtaining further loans, somewhat surprised the European Commission. Not only because in recent weeks the executive had signaled the risk of not being able to spend all the resources already assigned to Italy in time, so much so that members of the majority had even floated the possibility of giving up part of the debt funds. But also because the request received in the Palazzo Berlaymont offices is absolutely generic and not accompanied by a precise figure. According to government sources, the decision to “book” additional resources would have been solicited by the technicians to leave open the possibility of requesting part of those funds should there be a need. The problem is that the executive seems to be groping in the dark about the “ifs”.

“The government has said it wants to modify the plan – an EU source vents -, but we are in the second half of April and in addition to not having yet defined the projects to be financed, it does not seem to have yet clear the amount of resources it intends to use” . Of the ten countries that have expressed their interest in requesting other debt funds, Italy is the only one that has not indicated the amount it needs. To underline the non-linearity of this choice, in Brussels they give the example of Greece. Even the government of Athens had immediately wanted the entire amount of the loans at its disposal, but now it has presented a well-defined request: the request is for an additional 5 billion.

The government’s attitude is described as “worrying” because every day that passes is a day late, given that the deadlines of the Pnrr cannot be changed: the resources for investments must be physically spent by 31 August 2026, but all non-repayable grants must be “legally committed” by 31 December this year, otherwise there is the risk of losing them.

The impression is that the government, after trying to unload the responsibility for the delays on Draghi, has gotten into confusion. Raffale Fitto appears only to manage the very delicate Pnrr dossier, perhaps the most important of all for Giorgia Meloni. On the one hand, the Minister of Community Affairs – yesterday in the Chamber of Deputies – reassured that the deadlines for reviewing the plan were respected. Times, incidentally, on which the European Commission and the government are divided: the former had asked for a proposal by April 30, Fitto took time until August. Not only that: the exponent of the Brothers of Italy also promised clarity with respect to the “unfeasible” programs of the plan. On the other hand, there is the (unquantified) request to access the unused funds of the RePowerEu. As mentioned, the choice would have been solicited by the technicians, a pity that in the majority there are those – such as the Northern League supporter Claudio Borghi – who even dispute the full use of the loans that Italy has already obtained. Even if the interest rate remains cheaper than that of BTPs: the Commission is currently issuing bonds on medium maturities with a yield of 3%, much lower than that of Italian ten-year bonds (which are around 4.3%) .

Then there is a curious aspect in this whole story: the increasingly noisy silence of the Minister of the Treasury Giancarlo Giorgetti, who – this is known in the palaces – has never been enthusiastic about Lease’s project (supported by Meloni) to transfer the direction of the plan by the Inspectorate of Accounting at Palazzo Chigi, also centralizing the competences of the Cohesion Agency. A review of powers that will not be short, however: the decree that reforms the entire governance of EU funds (ordinary and extraordinary) will be definitively approved by Parliament only tomorrow, after which it will take weeks for the implementing rules.

Meanwhile in Brussels they are waiting to understand the government’s intentions also to decide how to manage the residual resources of the European Recovery Plan. The Commission has received requests for loans from ten countries, including Italy and Greece. The largest slices will go to Spain (84 billion), Poland (23 in addition to the 11.5 already requested), Portugal (11.5 in addition to the 2.7 already requested) and the Czech Republic (11 billion). In total, requests amount to almost 148 billion, well below the 225 billion still available. This means that there are still 77 billion that can be redistributed even to those who have already used up the quota available (equal to 6.8% of GDP). In reallocating resources, the Commission “will apply the principles of equal treatment, solidarity, proportionality and transparency” and will evaluate the requests of governments on the basis of their needs and their “absorption capacity”. —

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