Today, the Commission has endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of Italy's payment request for €16.5 billion in grants and loans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU.
On 22 September 2023, Italy submitted to the Commission a fourth payment request based on the achievement of the 21 milestones and seven targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision.
A set of transformative reforms is included in key policy areas such as criminal and civil justice, public employment, public procurement, and elderly and long-term care. For example, further steps are taken in implementing the reforms of the public administration and the criminal and civil judiciary. These will contribute to a simpler and more effective public administration and to a more efficient justice system. In addition, the business environment stands to benefit from a simplified and more efficient public procurement system. Reforms to simplify administrative procedures for green investments are also included. Lastly, there is a reform aiming to improve the living conditions of non-self-sufficient elderly people through easier access to health and social services.
Investments in this payment request also cover a wide range of areas such as energy efficiency of buildings, hydrogen infrastructure, childcare, the digital transition, sustainable mobility and social inclusion. They include for example the installation of charging infrastructures and a strengthened regional public transport railway fleet, with zero-emission trains. Green hydrogen investments are also included, such as hydrogen testing of road transport and of railway mobility, and the production of hydrogen in brownfield sites. One investment relates to the digitalisation of public administration, through the migration of the datasets and applications of a large part of local public administration to a secure cloud infrastructure. There are investments to combat educational poverty in the South, to increase the supply of nurseries and pre-schools and of early childhood education and care services. The investment to increase the availability of affordable housing for university students is also included in this request.
With their request, the Italian authorities provided detailed and comprehensive evidence demonstrating the fulfilment of the 28 milestones and targets. The Commission has thoroughly assessed this information before presenting its positive preliminary assessment of the payment request.
The Italian recovery and resilience plan covers a wide range of investment and reform measures organised in six thematic areas (the so-called "Missions"). The plan will be financed by €191.6 billion, with €69 billion in grants and €122.6 billion in loans. To date, Italy has received €85.4 billion. This includes €9 billion in grants and €15.9 billion in loans disbursed in pre-financing on 13 August 2021. The first payment worth €21 billion was disbursed on 13 April 2022; a second payment worth €21 billion on 9 November 2022; and a third payment worth €18.5 billion on 9 October 2023.
Payments under the RRF are performance-based and contingent on Member States implementing the investments and reforms outlined in their respective recovery and resilience plans.
Next Steps
The Commission has now sent its positive preliminary assessment of Italy's satisfactory fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), asking for its opinion. The EFC's opinion, to be delivered within a maximum of four weeks, should be taken into account in the Commission's assessment. Following the EFC's opinion, the Commission will adopt the final decision on the disbursement of the financial contribution, in accordance with the examination procedure, through a comitology committee. Following the adoption of the decision by the Commission, the disbursement to Italy can take place.
The Commission will assess further payment requests by Italy based on the fulfilment of the milestones and targets outlined in the Council Implementing Decision approving the plan, reflecting progress on the implementation of the investments and reforms.
The amounts disbursed to the Member States are published in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, which shows progress of the implementation of the national recovery and resilience plans.
