Pnrr, Italy too slow and plan at risk: the government has not completed a single deadline

While Italy is awaiting the outcome of the last request for funding, sent to the European Commission on 30 December 2022, together with the documentation that should prove the achievement of the 55 deadlines envisaged for the second half of 2022 (at stake is a new installment of 19 billion euro of funds), the Pnrr in the first months of the year marks a clear slowdown.

According to the latest check carried out on 16 March by an independent entity, the Openpolis Foundation, specialized in the collection of data and in the analysis of political and social phenomena, of the 12 deadlines envisaged for the first quarter of 2023, only 3 are in fact «a good point», while another 9 are defined as «in progress» and therefore, specifies the latest Openpolis report, are far from being achieved.

Added to this is that compared to the second half of 2022 out of 55 obligations, 12 would not have been achieved (1 in the third quarter and 11 in the fourth) and this, except for the clarifications that Rome has provided to Brussels, makes problematic the green light from the Commission expected by the end of this month.

According to Openpolis the «situation that denotes great difficulties and little attention on the part of the government to compliance with the timetable. The government has not completed a single deadline. Perhaps because in any case the next check by Brussels will be at the end of June, with the end of the first half of the year. And this makes the deadlines for the intermediate quarters less pressing».

But if you arrive late with your first quarter commitments, it is reported that it will be even more difficult to complete the second quarter program which runs from April to June when there will be 15 more deadlines to reach in order to request a new installment of funds equal to 18.4 billion (16 net of repayments of a portion of the advance).

The plans for the first three months of the year concern in particular the ecological transition (5 deadlines and only one well advanced), therefore public administration, social inclusion, digitization – all with 2 deadlines each – and business and work with 1 fulfilment.

In particular, the 5 deadlines of the ecological transition all concern hydrogen: from the entry into force of the regulations necessary for its use as a source of renewable energy, to the awarding of contracts for projects related to production and refueling stations.

The major work therefore belongs to the Ministry of the Environment, holder in particular of 3 deadlines; followed, each with 2 fulfilments, by Infrastructure and the Department for the Digital Transition with 2, by Sport, the Ministry of Labour, the Economy and the Presidency of the Council with a deadline each.