European Funds 2021-2027: Italy unable to spend, 0.9% of 74 billion used

European funds, thus Italy’s opportunities to build roads and railways fade away

In addition to the approximately 200 billion of the PNRRthere are also other funds allocated from Europe to the individual states, this is the money for cohesion that comes from the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund and if for the PNRR the situation is worrying, regarding this other money available to Italy the data is alarming. That the spending of European structural funds by regions and ministries – reports Il Sole 24 Ore – proceeded with difficulty is a historical fact. But in the programming 2021-2027 is taking on very worrying dimensions. At the end of April, of 74 billion euros the actual expenditure was at 621 million, 0.9% of the totalThis is derived from the latest quarterly broadcast at Brussels of the data from the programme management authorities. No sign of acceleration compared to what was indicated at the end of December in the update note to the Def, when the expenditure was equal to 535 million (0.7%). Without a truly radical change, it will therefore be impossible to use all these resources.

Justified, therefore – continues Il Sole – the European Commission recall in the recommendations to Italy approved on 19 June, to “accelerate the implementation of cohesion policy programmes“, an objective considered “crucial, together with the strengthening of administrative capacity at national level but especially in local authorities”. The Commission has asked Italy to take advantage of the mid-term review to review the programmes by next March, taking into account the “challenges” identified in the EU recommendations, in particular “the disparities that persist” between the Centre-North and the South.

With 42 billion euros for the period 2021-2027 Italy is the second beneficiary of European structural funds, after the Poland. This is the Regional Development Fund and the Social Fund Plus. To this figure is added the national co-financing which brings the total to approximately 74 billion. The resources must be committed by 2027 and expenses by 2029otherwise they are not paid out. But halfway through the seven-year program the cost is almost nothing.