The National Recovery and Resilience Plan for Italy is ready: 191.5 billion to be spent, between now and 2026, to start the relaunch of the country and overcome the blow inflicted by the pandemic. After the final passage in the Council of Ministers, the sending of the substantial package of investments and reforms to the European Commission is ready: Mario Draghi will be on time, as promised, and will deliver the package on April 30th. Already on June 18, at the Ecofin meeting, the green light from Brussels could reach the plan, if – as the government leaders trust – Italy is one of the first countries to deposit it.
The hope is to access immediately, by the summer, the first tranche of advance funds, which in total for Italy could reach 25 billion in 2021. But immediately the difficult challenge of reforms starts for the government, in a thrilling “road map”, both in terms of timing and political distances to be bridged, on issues such as justice and taxation, in the majority. Then, the path of implementation will start, even the very difficult one, because if you go over the time schedule you lose the funds: “Spending well” is Draghi’s mantra. If Italy fails, the premier has warned on several occasions, the entire enterprise launched by the EU fails. Draghi brings the plan to CDM for the final “acknowledgment”, after the illustration to Parliament. And together with the Pnrr, the Council of Ministers approves a decree law that establishes the supplementary fund to the Recovery plan of 30.6 billion which will finance, until 2033, projects that, due to the timing of implementation or the nature of the interventions, could not enter the Plan.
For 2021, the fund could be fed with an initial loan of up to 5 billion (but the figure could be lower, estimates are underway). In any case, these are resources destined to have a great impact on the territory, from funds for the areas affected by the earthquake, to those for the reconstruction of roads and road safety. Local authorities, starting with the Regions, want to have a say. This is why Minister Maria Stella Gelmini asks colleagues already seated at the table of the CDM to be able to convene the Unified Conference, for a discussion before the green light to the decree: the CDM is suspended for four hours, Minister Daniele Franco illustrates the text to the governors . Some tension on the complementary fund, with some changes in extremis, delayed the approval of the Italian Recovery plan by a few hours. The “extra” fund – financed by Italy – includes 31 investments ranging from 5G to satellite technology, from the renewal of the fleets of buses and ships to the Ecobonus, up to funds for the Salerno-Reggio Calabria high-speed remote monitoring of bridges, tunnels and viaducts. And again: from polis, service houses for digital citizenship in the smallest municipalities, to financing for healthcare and hospitals. Meanwhile, plans from France, Germany, Portugal, Greece and Slovakia have arrived in Brussels in the evening.
For Italy it is important to be in the “leading” group in order of presentation, because in this way it will have a better chance of accessing the first tranche of advance funds scheduled for July. The approval of the first plans – the Commission has two months to examine them – is expected at Ecofin on 18 June. Draghi’s government is confident that it is on the list and that the examination in Brussels will not hold any surprises, given the informal interlocution that accompanied the preparation of the text. The ministers are already exulting. Luigi Di Maio has more than 100 billion in total in the South (but Vincenzo De Luca from Campania says that the North is favored), Maria Cristina Messa 15 billion on universities and research, Patrizio Bianchi stresses that the school has never had so much money. But still a few steps need to be taken before you start spending.
On the reforms, in particular, our country will be judged. And on the reforms the challenge is difficult. In May it will be necessary to finalize the decree on the governance of the Plan, with the political knot still to be resolved of the composition of the control room which, in Palazzo Chigi, will be supervised. Also in May, the launch of the Enterprise decree is expected on the basis of the latest budget variance (it could arrive not next week but the following one) and the decrees on PA and simplifications. Then reforms such as taxation and competition will enter into force, to be completed by July, and justice, expected by September. In reality, the reform of the civil and criminal process has already been hinged on for more than a year in Parliament but – to give the measure of the size of the company – a new postponement of the amendments on the criminal bill is registered in the House committee. It will be up to Minister Marta Cartabia to unravel the problem: a proposal on the prescription is expected in the coming weeks. “Unity and cohesion are essential to win,” says Andrea Orlando. A message that seems also addressed to the other members of the large majority.