Brussels warns Italy about the Pnrr “Too many projects postponed until 2026”

Bruxelles – As of December 31st Italy had received 102.5 billion for the Pnrr but only spent 43. That is, he actually used only 42% of the money. A share that represents 22% of the total funds made available to our country until the summer of 2026. Not a brilliant result. And that raises more than one question about the government’s ability to “ground” funding. Also because with the review of the Plan carried out in recent months there has been a distribution of commitments and reforms towards the end of the validity of NextGenerationEu, i.e. 2026.

All data present in a study conducted by the Research Service of the European Parliament and concluded in this month of April. In which, in fact, the Italian difficulties are highlighted. Precisely the poor “use” of the money up to now makes the European Chamber offices say that this situation “suggests the importance of the period until August 2026 for full implementation, not least also for the investment measures ». A polite way to warn that an acceleration is needed in the next two years otherwise the risk is not reaching the set goals and therefore not collecting the other ninety billion that have been scheduled in the tranches of the next six semesters.

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Also because from the research of European Parliament also shows that in the “revision” of the Pnrr established by the Meloni government there is a heavy postponement of the stages towards the end of the financing period. In essence, a good part has been postponed to 2026. «The review – we read in the document – ​​has moved parts of the resources and objectives towards the end of the plan. The tenth installment has become the largest (32.7 billion euros in grants and loans, including pre-financing) and 46% of all targets are now linked to it.” To be clearer: in 2026, 159 “targets” will have to be achieved out of a total of 346. That is, in the first five years the objectives to be achieved in total are 187 and in the last year 159. Evidently a clever way to facilitate the achievement of all the tranches and risk losing only the last one.

Not only. In the Brussels studio sSome “political” choices adopted by the Meloni executive also clearly stand out. Starting with reforms and interventions to protect the environment. Compared to the original plan, for example, resources for renewable energy, hydrogen and sustainable mobility are reduced by 7.6%. Despite all the hydrogeological disasters that our country has faced, funds for the protection of land and water resources have been cut by 34.4%. In healthcare, funds for innovation, research and digitalisation of the healthcare service were cut by 8.7%. Furthermore, the amount initially allocated to the family, social infrastructure and third sector (social solidarity) suffered a contraction of 25.8%.

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Among the ten most expensive “expenses” of the Pnrr, those for the Ecobonus and the Sismabonus are in first place up to 110 percent with an amount of almost 14 billion euros. The second is the digital transition with just over 13 billion. The third concerns high-speed railway lines: 8.7 billion.

There is another aspect that is underlined in the study and concerns the distribution of Grants (free money) and Loans (loans). «Half of the payments – we read – for the grants are concentrated in the first three instalments, while those for the loans are distributed more evenly over the life cycle of the plan». A choice that could have effects on public debt in the subsequent period. In short, everything is postponed to the end of the Pnrr. That is, at the end of the legislature.