Question and answer between Draghi and Meloni. It is the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) to put the outgoing premier and the one in pectore on opposite sides and on the day of the refusal of the Ministry of Economy that the US agency Bloomberg attributes to Fabio Panetta, executive of the ECB. The handover between Mario Draghi and Giorgia Meloni was proceeding without problems until the former presented the new report on the state of implementation of the plan to the ministers, claiming that "in the first half of 2022, Italy has once again achieved all goals". However, the agencies had just launched a launch in which the leader of FdI said the opposite: "We inherit a difficult situation: the PNRR delays they are evident and difficult to recover and we are aware that it will be a shortcoming that does not depend on us but that will also be attributed to us by whoever caused it”.
But not only. Meloni would also have said that he will not go to the European Council of 20 and 21 October. “What is the use of forcing the times for an appointment in which you risk bringing home little, or worse still, a failure?”.
Draghi replies: "PNRR a unique opportunity, there are no delays"
“I did everything I could, I left her homework done. Now it's her turn." In these words all Draghi's anger towards Meloni appears. “It is up to the next government to continue the implementation work” of the PNRR “and I am sure it will be carried out with the same strength and effectiveness. There are no delays in the implementation of the PNRR: if there were, the Commission would not pay the money”, retorted the outgoing prime minister.
According to many, the exit of the prime minister in pectore would be an attempt to begin to shake off the suspicions of maintaining substantial "continuity" with the Draghi government. An accusation relaunched even by some center-right allies in recent days.
Meloni reassures: "No clash with Draghi"
After the thrust of the current premier, Meloni tries to calm spirits: "There is no clash with Draghi". But the "controversy" between the two is destined to remain open, because divergent conceptions of the Plan remain. In fact, Meloni has one of the objectives of the electoral campaign in the revision of the plan, but the examiners of the Commission in this case would like to have detailed information on what the center-right government intends to do on issues such as revenue authorities e competition, on which Europe is more attentive. Draghi, for his part, would be certain that the hypothesis of modifying the PNRR, especially due to inflation, is out of the question at the moment: instead, there would be the risk of a slowdown in the articulated procedure that leads to the distribution of billions of euros.
The Recovery Plan problem
On the PNRR, the outgoing government bequeaths 15 billion spent of the 29,4 billion planned for 2022. With the green light from Europe, two more installments of 42 billion in addition to the pre-financing of almost 25. They will be needed by 2026 for the ecological and digital transition of Italy. The problem is grounding the projects: Italy has spent only a part of the funds disbursed, 5,1 billion against the 13,7 received, as explained a few months ago by the Minister of Economy himself Daniel Franco.
La Def update note, which outlines the scenario under current legislation without defining the public finance planning objectives for the three-year period 2023-2025, itself certified that the amount of resources actually spent in 2022 will be lower than the projections presented in April "due to the delayed start of some projects which reflects, beyond the times of adaptation to the procedures, the effects of the soaring costs of public works”. Of the 191 billion allocated to our country, around 21 will actually be spent by December, compared to the 29,4 billion initially assumed.
But, the rules of the PNRR are different from those of normal European funds. To get the resources count “the number of objectives and goals achieved at the end of each semester”, recalled the premier in the control room.
Panetta's refusal
A final element of friction between Draghi and Meloni is represented by Fabio Panetta, member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank. Panetta will probably not be the next Italian economy minister. This was declared by a confidential source Bloomberg, according to which it would have been Panetta himself, during a private conversation on the occasion of the meeting of finance ministers of the euro area held in Luxembourg, who would have said instead of wanting to stay in Frankfurt. On Panetta Meloni hoped that Draghi would be able to convince him to give up the role of Italian representative on the board of the ECB and also the ambitions of becoming governor of Bank of Italy after Visco.
