Source: Government of Italy (English)
Italy received payment of the ninth and penultimate instalment of its National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) from the European Commission yesterday, worth EUR 12.8 billion. The payment was made following the positive assessment issued on 29 April regarding Italy’s fulfilment of the 50 related objectives (34 targets and 16 milestones), including reforms and strategic investments to continue supporting the nation’s economic and social growth.
“Payment of the penultimate NRRP instalment, taking the total resources received so far by Italy to EUR 166 billion, certifies that 100% of the planned objectives have been achieved by the set deadlines, namely 416 milestones and targets corresponding to over 85% of the financial resources allocated to the Italian Plan and approximately three quarters of the objectives set up to the tenth and final instalment. As was rightfully pointed out by the Deputy DG for Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission, Declan Costello, at the recent event on NRRP implementation, whom I would like to take this opportunity to thank together with DG Céline Gauer for their consistently constructive institutional cooperation, Italy is now the nation with the highest NRRP implementation rate in Europe, becoming a best practice model for other Member States and exceeding all initial expectations,” stated Minister for European Affairs, the NRRP and Cohesion Policy Tommaso Foti.
The various reforms for the ninth instalment included implementation of the national programme for the guaranteed employability of workers (‘GOL’) and fundamental adoption of the final audit plan report – a strategic tool to consolidate and improve the excellent results achieved in reducing payment delays by public authorities, which on average now pay suppliers in less than 30 days.
In addition to the reforms for the ninth instalment, there were also numerous investments, including implementation of the Electronic Health Record for 85% of GPs and expansion of telemedicine services to 300,000 people, as well as the modernisation of hospital technological and digital equipment for 280 healthcare facilities. Particularly significant investments also included: the reduction of water losses by organising 45,000 km of network into districts; upgrades to the national fire brigade’s fleet, with 3,800 new vehicles; implementation of the national programme for the guaranteed employability of workers (‘GOL’), reaching three million beneficiaries, providing training for 600,000 people, and boosting 326 job centres; educational support for 44,000 minors in the Mezzogiorno; digitalisation of 7,750,000 judicial files; digital skills training for 8,300 volunteers through ‘universal civil service’-accredited organisations and for 650,000 school principals, teachers and administration staff; tax credit recognition and the disbursement of funds for competitiveness for a total of 4,000 tourism businesses; the redevelopment of 100 historical parks and gardens. These are in addition to the intermediate objectives reached concerning a number of strategic investments provided for by the most recent revision of the Plan, including the implementation agreements for a swift activation of the ‘national connectivity fund’, ‘revolving fund for supply chain contracts’, ‘fund for university student housing’, and the ‘agri-solar park facility’.
The Meloni Government, together with all the relevant authorities and institutions, is working tirelessly to achieve the final objectives set out in the NRRP, linked to the payment request for the tenth and final instalment, as well as to ensure effective management of the Plan’s complex final reporting stage.
[Courtesy translation]