Giorgia Meloni and Mario Draghi during the handover ceremony in Rome on October 23, 2022 (AFP/Andreas SOLARO)
After the fall of the Mario Draghi government in the summer of 2022, Europe was worried about the future of Italy’s recovery plan, of which he was the guarantor. From now on, the machine seems seized up and the debate on the delays taken in its implementation is raging.
“I’m not worried about the delays,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni assured Monday. And to add that the setbacks of the plan, negotiated with Brussels by his predecessor, were “not the fruit of the choices of this government”.
Italy is under close surveillance: as the first beneficiary of the European recovery plan, it will collect 191.5 billion euros by 2026, provided it fulfills countless objectives and implements sometimes unpopular reforms.
The disbursement of the third tranche of 19 billion euros was frozen by Brussels at the end of March, pending clarifications on some of the 55 objectives to be achieved in the second half of 2022. After three months of checks, a new deadline has been set for end of April.
European Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni at the headquarters of the European Union in Brussels, March 13, 2023 (AFP / Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD)
The European Commissioner for the Economy, the Italian Paolo Gentiloni, had warned his compatriots in mid-March: “we Italians cannot take responsibility for a failure of the first Eurobonds of the EU, because it would be a disaster from a European point of view”.
A great first for the European Union, the post-pandemic recovery plan of 800 billion euros was financed by a joint loan from its Member States, to the great displeasure of so-called “frugal” countries, such as Austria and the The Netherlands.
If the plan fails, Italy “will have wasted a unique opportunity” and, in the future, “the EU will become more austere” by applying stricter budgetary rules, fears the former Prime Minister and economist Mario Monti.
– Stadiums in the crosshairs –
Brussels’ concerns relate in particular to Rome’s desire to finance, with European funds, the renovation of a football stadium in Florence and the construction of a sports center in Venice.
A private beach in Fregene near Rome, May 13, 2022 (AFP / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE)
Another dispute with Brussels, the far-right coalition has planned to extend for at least another year, until the end of 2024, the concessions granted to private beaches, a decision however censored by the Council of State.
While the Draghi government had decided to bring this opaque market to heel and organize public tenders from January 2024, Rome thus risked a new procedure for breaching European competition rules.
As for the recovery plan, “there are clearly delays, but more on the expenditure side than on the achievement of objectives”, summarized Lorenzo Codogno, former chief economist of the Italian Treasury.
At the beginning of 2021, Italy had planned to spend more than 40 billion euros of European funds until the end of 2022. But only some 12 billion have been committed, or 6% of the total of the plan planned by 2026, according to the Italian Court of Auditors.
– No extension in sight –
“There is zero chance of getting an agreement from Brussels on extending the deadline beyond 2026, Italy will have to meet all the targets by then,” Codogno told AFP.
Scaffolding for the renovation of the facade of a building thanks to green bonuses in Rome, February 20, 2023 (AFP/Tiziana FABI)
The recovery plan focuses on digitization, ecological transition and infrastructure, especially in the rail sector.
The case of Italy is all the more worrying as it is the second most indebted country in the euro zone behind Greece.
Ms Meloni called on Brussels to modify the plan, to adapt it to the surge in energy prices due to the war in Ukraine, because the prices previously set by public tenders do not take this into account, discouraging candidates.
Screaming lack of personnel in the public administration, bureaucratic heaviness, multitude of laws to respect… Italy has a heavy past in terms of delays in the use of European funds.
The recovery plan had already crystallized tensions in January 2021, even causing the fall of the government of Giuseppe Conte, leader of the Five Star Movement.
Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had withdrawn his party, Italia Viva, from the ruling coalition, judging that the draft plan lacked scope.
“The credibility of Italy is at stake. If we fail on the recovery plan, it is not just the failure of Giorgia Meloni, but of all of Italy,” warned Mr. Conte on Friday.
© 2023 AFP
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