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The tug of war continues between the Regions and the Government over the 1.2 billion “cut” or “remodulation” – depending on the version chosen – intended for the seismic safety of hospitals and which have ended up at the center of a clash in recent weeks . The funds are provided for by the Pnrr and in particular by the complementary national plan (an Italian version of the European Plan). But who is right between the two contenders? And what are the real numbers really at play?
The funds definanced by the Government and the proposed solution
After an initial outcry, the Regions unanimously returned in recent days to insist on the request to review the measure included in the last Pnrr decree (the fourth) – expected in the Chamber on April 12th – and it says it is ready to knock on the Constitutional Court. The measure which immediately sparked a thousand controversies defunds the funds for the seismic safety of hospitals foreseen in the complementary national plan of the Pnrr and indicates as an alternative route – to save these interventions for the safety of often very dilapidated healthcare facilities – that of drawing on the resources not yet used from the ordinary Fund for hospital construction: this is the so-called Article 20 Fund from the budget law which in 1988 for the first time launched a multi-year plan for hospital construction worth over 30 billion and which according to the Executive did not it is committed for 2.2 billion also due to often complicated and bureaucratic procedures. Residual sums which for the Government can be used to cover the movement of funds from the Pnrr, thus maintaining the planned interventions.
The protest of the Regions who want the funds to be returned
But the Governors, as mentioned, have returned to protest, officially asking in a Conference of the Regions for the withdrawal of the measure: in particular the repeal of the rule of the Pnrr decree which cuts 1.2 billion to the regions relating to approximately 200 interventions for the seismic safety of the structures hospitals, or a formal commitment to reinstate the funds. If this does not happen, the regions are ready to turn to the Consulta. «We will use all channels of collaboration and also those of non-collaboration, if necessary, to protect the National Health Service as much as possible. From an informal conversation we saw an openness from the government”, underlined yesterday the President of the Regions Massimiliano Fedriga. In short, for the Regions these funds have been substantially subtracted and must be returned and drawing them from the ordinary hospital construction fund is not a possible route for them because they are money already reserved on the basis of program agreements that each Region signs with the Government or in any case in availability of regional programming.
The crux of residual resources and the possibility of spending them
The Government’s response with the Minister for European Affairs Raffaele Fitto is also clear: «the Government has not applied any cuts to the resources allocated to healthcare but, on the contrary, has safeguarded all the planned interventions, and is now committed, together with the Regions, in the monitoring activity of interventions to ensure their timely implementation”. The delays in some interventions “have called into question the possibility of achieving the planned objectives by 2026”, adds Fitto. Hence the reallocation of 1.2 billion “to the Article 20 Fund” where “to date there are 2.2 billion euros free from any programming, for which there is no proposal or request for use by the Regions”. In reality, these 2.2 billion – according to an initial monitoring – would be largely spendable but only in the southern regions which have not yet fully committed them and not, for example, in those of the central and northern regions, in particular Lombardy, Lazio and Piedmont who apparently do not have even a single euro to draw from that fund for healthcare construction because they are all already scheduled for construction projects on site.