While waiting for the money for the third instalment, which has received the final green light, and after the formal request to obtain the fourth, the executive is focusing on the next steps. Two control rooms chaired by Minister Raffaele Fitto are expected: the modified timetable of the objectives to be achieved by December is on the table. In the original version, the fifth tranche was worth 18 billion euros
Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on economic news
The Meloni government continues to work on the Pnrr. Having received the final green light for the third installment – which should arrive within a few days – and forwarded the formal request to obtain the fourth, the executive is now focusing on the fifth. To start the journey, two control rooms are needed. We start today, in the presence of the Prime Minister, ministers and representatives of Regions, Provinces and Municipalities. Then on Tuesday the social partners will also be involved. On the table for the first time is the modified timetable of the objectives to be achieved by December, i.e. those for the second half of 2023 linked to the fifth instalment. In the original program, the tranche was worth 18 billion euros.
The third and fourth installments
In today’s meeting, first of all, there will be an update on the payment procedure for the third instalment. After months of negotiations with Brussels, the formal approval from the EU has arrived and Italy will shortly cash the check worth 18.5 billion euros. In recent days, the government has also presented the request for the fourth instalment, but the 16.5 billion linked to it are not expected before the end of the year. The EU Commission, in fact, has only approved the changes to the objectives of the fourth tranche, but now the process of verifying each item begins. A process which, with the third instalment, took more than six months. The fourth installment contains 21 milestones and seven targets which include various reforms in the sectors of social inclusion and public procurement, as well as follow-up measures necessary for the implementation of the reforms already adopted in the fields of justice and public employment.
University accommodation
The fourth installment also includes the objective of 60,000 new homes for university students, initially foreseen in the third but then moved by the government because the target had not been reached for Brussels. Just a few days ago, an ad hoc control room, also with the Minister of University and Research Anna Maria Bernini, took stock of the housing situation and established that in the next few days the necessary measures will be activated to ensure the reporting of the objective. Meanwhile, the mobilization of university students is back from today, with tents pitched in Milan, Rome and other cities. “We decided to protest as the government continues to ignore the high cost of studies and the housing crisis, without implementing any concrete solution. We feel betrayed compared to the promises we had received before the summer”, explained the young people.
Towards the fifth installment
Returning to the Pnrr, while waiting to collect the funds, the government opens the construction site to secure the projects for the second half of 2023, linked to the fifth instalment. It does so, in fact, starting today and not by chance together with the local authorities, the most critical of the remodulation of the Pnrr launched in August and still being examined by the European Commission. The fear of mayors and regional presidents is of losing funds from projects already started. The original timetable included 69 objectives to be achieved by December. The overall rewriting of the plan, which modified and remodulated 144 measures out of 349, will also affect the targets for the current semester: some have been cancelled, such as the one on biomethane, while others have been defunded and still others will be postponed. In total they should exceed twenty, but greater clarity will be made during the meetings of these days, chaired by Raffaele Fitto, Minister of European Affairs, South, Cohesion Policies and Pnrr.
Source-tg24.sky.it