The PNRR? Not everything is going well: the hardships of entrepreneurs. “Delays and funds at risk”, scolded by the EU Court of Auditors

Pnrr, the dressing down from the Court of Auditors arrives

Rising inflation and shortages of raw materials; changes in the policy environment for reforms; measures ill-timed and underestimated time to implement them (due to public procurement and state aid rules); implementing rules and uncertainties on how to apply them; limited administrative capacity and complexity of rules at national level.

They are the main causes of delays in the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plansidentified by the European Court of Auditors in its report published today. Delays that also concern Italy even though it is one of the leading countries for payments received so far. Just as anticipated a few days ago to “La Piazza” of affaritaliani.it by Angelo Contessa, president of the Consorzio Stabile Build Scarl.

WATCH HERE THE INTERVIEW OF DIRECTOR PERRINO WITH ANGELO CONTESSA

Until now Italy has obtained 46% of the total funds allocated until 2026 and has achieved 34% of the goals and objectives (178 out of 525). In absolute values ​​it is the first for objectives, in percentage terms it is third after France (53%) and Luxembourg (41%).

In particular, the Court writes, “Italy has completed a series of reforms of the public administrationincluding in relation to recruitment procedures, the establishment of the IT system to monitor and manage the implementation of the Recovery and the simplification of administrative procedures. It also included a milestone on increasing the capacityadministrative city of local authorities. However, in March 2023, the Italian Supreme Audit Institution noted difficulties related to the high turnover of hired staff and highlighted that the procedures for implementing the PNRR were complex and many authorities did not yet have the necessary staffing”.

Other examples of delays They concern the availabilityraw material availability and the supply chain fluidity. “The objective of notifying the award of all public contracts for the construction of 2,500 fast charging stations for electric vehicles by the second quarter of 2023 was delayed, as no applicants had applied for part of the measure. This was mainly due to the shortage of raw materials. Italy then made a proposal to postpone this part of the measure, which was accepted by the Commission”, the Court highlights.

The Italian PNRR also included an investment for the development of infrastructure for offshore electricity production, also using experimental technologies that use currents and wave motion to generate clean energy. Following public consultations and further investigations by the Italian authorities, it emerged that the authorization process for the projects benefiting from the measure was incompatible with the implementation period of the Recovery.

The Italian authorities have therefore formulated the proposal to eliminate the measure from the Pnrrwhich the Commission accepted after evaluation. And again: the PNRR included an investment for the construction of a certain number of kilometres of public transport infrastructure in certain metropolitan areas.

During the audit, the Italian authorities expressed concerns about the timely implementation of the measure, also because one of the projects could not comply with the ‘do no significant harm’ principle, as it was located in a volcanic area. They finally requested to amend the measure by removing specific references to one of the sites where the infrastructure would be developed and to replace the initial target with a milestone to award the contract. The Commission accepted the proposal.

The Commission’s response: “PNRR implementation accelerates; no risks for projects“

“The Recovery fund was implemented in unprecedented circumstances, including supply chain disruptions that affected many investments. In addition, most Member States decided to review their plans to address the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. These developments affected the speed of implementation until mid-2023. Since then, we have seen an increase in payment requests and we continue to see this increase today.”

A spokesperson for the company said this European Commission in response to the European Court of Auditors’ report on the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans. “By the end of 2023, Member States had doubled the number of payment requests compared to the beginning of 2023, from 27 to 54. Disbursements of the Recovery have risen to over €220 billion and we have committed a total of €290 billion in support loans. This signals a renewed focus on implementation,” he highlights.