A steering committee meeting for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) was held at Palazzo Chigi this afternoon, called and chaired by the Minister for European Affairs, Southern Italy, Cohesion Policy and the NRRP, Raffaele Fitto. The purpose of the meeting, attended by the Ministers and Undersecretaries involved as well as by representatives from ANCI [National Association of Italian Municipalities], UPI [Union of Italian Provinces] and the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, was to monitor and verify progress of the 69 milestones and targets for the seventh instalment of the NRRP, worth EUR 18.2 billion, and to coordinate activities regarding compliance with the obligations provided for by Article 2(1) of the NRRP decree-law, related to monitoring, reporting and verification data for NRRP measures being updated on the ‘ReGiS’ IT platform.
“Today’s steering committee meeting – stated Minister Fitto – is of particular importance, also considering that we submitted our sixth payment request, worth EUR 8.5 billion, last Friday and the European Commission endorsed the payment of the fifth instalment yesterday, for an amount of EUR 11 billion, certifying that 53 milestones and targets have been met. We were the first in Europe to request payment of the fifth instalment and we are now the first to have requested payment of the sixth instalment too, confirming Italy’s leading position in terms of both goals reached and the total amount received”.
Following a detailed review, the steering committee acknowledged the implementation status of the Plan and of the milestones and targets required for the seventh instalment. These include the roll-out of significant investments in: the zero-emission transport system; the agricultural sector; upgrading electricity transmission networks, with the ‘Tyrrhenian Link’ and ‘SA.CO.I.3’ projects; the installation of more than 16,000 roadside charging stations for electric vehicles; public health, with the launch of 480 ‘local operational centres’; and universities, assigning 55,000 study grants to deserving, underprivileged students and 7,200 PhD scholarships. In addition to the measures linked to investments, there are also several reforms, which are the focus of constructive discussions with the European Commission. These include reforms relating to: competition law; the entry into force of the ‘Testo unico’ [Consolidated Law] on renewables; improving the energy efficiency of housing for the most vulnerable families; the completion of measures to speed up public administration payments; and, the review of regulations for the ‘universal civil service’ to encourage young people to participate.
During the meeting, Minister Fitto highlighted the Government’s road map in order to fulfil the upcoming commitments under Italy’s Plan, stressing the need for all administrations involved to meet their obligation to swiftly update timelines on the ReGiS platform. Over these months, this platform has been implemented with millions of data items, which will allow for the Plan’s implementation status and the timely achievement of objectives to be certified.
“Following the endorsement of the Plan’s fifth instalment payment – continued Minister Fitto – which was increased by EUR 400 million after we achieved two goals linked to the fight against tax evasion earlier than planned, the steering committee has confirmed the positive progress of the reforms and investments under the new NRRP, which will be strategic for the nation’s structural economic growth. This is another significant step towards fully implementing the Plan, in relation to which, during the most delicate phase of implementing the planned measures and regularly checking deadlines – concluded Minister Fitto – we are all committed to the project for Italy’s economic and social revitalisation, the aim of which is to reduce regional productivity gaps in a structural way. This involves joint work by all the institutional bodies in charge of implementing the NRRP which, I am sure, will enable Italy to rise to the challenges of the coming years”.
[Courtesy translation]