European Affairs Minister Raffaele
Fitto said Saturday that the government will outline in the
coming days what can realistically be achieved with Italy's
massive post-Covid National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP)
along with the changes needed to make this possible.
The NRRP seeks to make the Italian economy Greener and more
modern with the help of almost 200 billion euros in EU grants
and low-interest loans.
But there fears it will not be possible to complete all the
related projects by the deadline of 2026 and Rome is in talks
with Brussels on possible changes to the plan.
The European Commission said Friday that it was still making
assessments for approval of the long-delayed payment of the
third tranche of NRRP funding worth 19 billion euros.
Payments are made by the EU on condition that agreed targets
have been met. To date Italy has received nearly 67 billion
euros in funding, largely in support of the ecological
transition and technological innovation.
"In the coming days the government will draw attention to clear
goals and a path to solve the long-standing problems, regarding
which it is necessary for the trend to be reversed, in relation
to the proposed changes to the NRRP and the 21-27 cohesion
programme," Fitto said at the Festival del Lavoro (Labour
Festival) in Bologna.
"This is an operation of realism and it is necessary to have the
courage to say so.
"I think that it would be irresponsible to say that everything
is fine and not highlight the necessary corrections that need to
be made.
"The work we are doing with all the (government) departments
goes precisely in this direction".
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