EC gives green light to Italy's 5th NRRP instalment

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 2 - The European Commission said Tuesday that it has given a preliminary positive assessment of Italy's request for the payment of the fifth instalment of its National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), which is worth 11 billion euros.
    The assessment regards 53 milestones and targets linked to the NRRP, a huge programme that seeks to make the Italian economy Greener and more modern with the help of around 194 billion euros in grants and low-interest loans from the EU.
    Payment of the funding is dependent on the achievement of milestones regarding reforms and the projects themselves.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni's government had to significantly modify its post-COVID NRRP to update it to the needs of changing circumstances and avert the danger of funding not arriving because it was not possible to complete the projects by the deadline of 2026.
    The fifth payment request covers steps in the delivery of 14 reforms and 22 investments in areas including competition law, public procurement, waste and water management, justice, the spending review framework, and secondary and tertiary education.
    The Commission has sent its positive preliminary assessment to the Economic and Financial Committee, which now has four weeks to deliver its opinion and pave the way for payment that will take the total allocated so far up to 113.5 billion.
    Italy recently became the first EU country to request its sixth tranche of funding for its NRRP from the NextGenerationEU programme.
    The Italian NRRP comprises 66 reforms and 150 investments, reflected in 618 milestones and targets.
    It amounts to 194.4 billion euros - 71.8 billion in grants and 122.6 billion in loans. (ANSA).