Recovery Plan makes 'unthinkable' possible - Draghi

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 27 - Premier Mario Draghi told the Lower House on Tuesday that the government's post-COVID PNRR Recovery Plan makes possible investments that would otherwise have been "unthinkable".
    The premier addressed the House again on Tuesday after it debated his presentation of the 248-billion-euro package, which aims to make the country greener and more modern, on Monday.
    Draghi is set to present the plan to the Senate later on Tuesday.
    "The National Plan of Recovery and Resilience (PNRR) makes possible investments that would have been impossible, unthinkable, until days ago," Draghi said.
    "The whole plan is an investment in the future and in the new generations".
    The PNRR is based on 191.5 billion euros from the European Union's Next Generation EU recovery fund and 30 billion from a complementary fund, plus another 26 billion for specific projects, making a grand total of 248 billion euros.
    The plan estimates that its measures will see Italy's GDP at least 3.6% higher in 2026 than it would have been otherwise.
    Draghi said 40% of the funds would be devoted to southern Italy, which accounts for 34% of Italy's population.
    He said the aim was "to accelerate growth in the south, which has been still for half a century".
    It features an ambitious reform programme focused on four areas - Italy's public administration, the justice system, simplification of legislation and the promotion of competition.
    "I don't say that competition is the panacea in all situations, absolutely not," Draghi said.
    "In most situations regulated competition is best, not competition without rules. We have learnt this at our expense in recent years".
    He added that a reform of Italy's tax system was needed to "accompany" the plan, even though it was not directly within its scope.
    "Tax reform is one of the key actions (needed) to respond to the country's structural weaknesses and, in this sense, it is an integral part of the recovery that we intend to trigger, with the help of European resources," he said.
    He said he hoped there would be broad agreement among Italy's political parties on a reform of the tax system. (ANSA).