Pnrr: EU green light for the second installment of 21 billion. Brussels, crackdown on the most indebted states
The European Commission has given the green light to the second installment of the Italian Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr). A tranche of 21 billion euros (10 billion in grants and 11 in loans), which are added to the almost 67 billion already disbursed during previous governments. The Italian plan, approved during the second Conte government, amounts to a total of 191.5 billion euros, divided into 68.9 billion in grants and 122.6 billion in loans, which will be progressively disbursed by the European Union until 2026.
The commission then gave a positive opinion on 27 September last, three months after the request made by the Italian government. The green light came after the European executive recognized the achievement of 44 milestones and a target, with 29 investments and 15 reforms completed in the first half of 2022.
In December, a delegation of technicians from the European Union will visit Italy to discuss with the government the request for any changes to the plan, already announced by the center-right during the electoral campaign. In her programmatic speech to the Senate, on the occasion of the vote of confidence in her government, Giorgia Meloni had stated that “the necessary adjustments to optimize spending will be agreed with the European Commission, especially in light of the rise in the prices of raw materials and energy crisis “.
In the meantime, in Brussels the negotiations to review the procedures for the repayment of the public debt are getting underway. Tomorrow the European Commission will present a plan to review some of the rules before the Stability and Growth Pact, suspended at the beginning of the pandemic, returns to full capacity in 2024. Under the proposals, the most indebted countries will be able to agree with the commission more realistic debt reduction paths, with more resources to be allocated to investments, but will have to comply with more stringent rules. According to reports from the Financial Times, for the most exposed countries, sanctioning procedures would automatically trigger in the event of exceeding the ceilings on public spending. The amount of the fines would also be reduced, to make them easier to enforce. Finally, the ministers of the relevant countries could be forced to intervene before the European parliament to explain the reasons for the excessive deficits.
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