Like an engine idling, the Pnrr trudges, unable to get into gear. Despite the proclamations of Giorgia Meloni on the “record level”, the reality is very different: instead of the 3,5 billion needed every month, only 1,5 billion are spent. The latest update shows an increase of only 9,3 billion in six months, a progress that highlights the gap between promises and actual results.
The much-vaunted revision of the Plan, which was supposed to redeem the alleged failure of the Draghi government, ended up amplify the delay instead of correcting it. This trend is confirmed by the fifth half-yearly report to Parliament on the implementation of the Recovery Plan, which will be officially presented between today and tomorrow. In the meantime, the Control Room has approved the preliminary draft of the document.
The Pnrr doesn't take off: so far half the money has been spent
According to the latest official estimate, the spending advanced by only 9,3 billion in six months. Last December, as reported in the previous report, spending was blocked at 42 billion, reduced compared to the 45,6 billion initially expected due to the exclusion of some projects. At the end of June, the amount rose to 51,3 billion, a modest increase that is not enough to reach the final objective.
So far, Italy received 102,5 billion of the 194,4 billion envisaged by the Plan, but has only spent just over half. With the imminent arrival of the fifth instalment, already approved by the EU, the total disbursed will rise to 113,5 billion, bringing the percentage of expenditure below 50%.
Despite these numbers, the minister-director of the Plan Raffaele Fitto described the situation as "very positive", praising Italy as a "virtuous example" in Europe for having already requested the sixth instalment. But if the government had really done "a good job", as stated by the Prime Minister, the expenditure should have been 21,2 billion, instead of remaining under 10 billion. If the pace does not change, at the end of the year it will reach around 18,6 billion, well below the commitments made with Europe.
Thus the Pnrr appears stuck on a wall of delays e inefficiencies. With the urgency of spending 57,9 billion next year and another 49,6 billion by 2026, the challenge becomes increasingly difficult, transforming the path into a titanic undertaking.
Despite the promises of "sustained spending" that seem to repeat themselves like a refrain, the Pnrr clock continues to tick snail's pace, leaving the country at the mercy of broken promises and increasingly distant objectives.
Giorgetti: “Timescales to be reviewed on Pnrr”
A heavy commitment that today is impossible to even imagine with these spending rates. Which could be the solution? Ask the postponement of the Plan beyond 2026, as the Minister of Economy has been suggesting for months Giancarlo Giorgetti. A proposal that has been ignored until now. However, the Minister of Economy knows well that the real debate on the extension - a taboo for the EU but whispered in the corridors - will take place next year, when the new Commission will finally be in motion after the installation of November. Meanwhile, Giorgetti does not hold back and continues to raise criticism, not only on the timing of the Plan, but also on its structural weaknesses. Less realistic, Prime Minister Fitto's loyalist: "It is a legitimate political debate, but I, as a minister who follows the Pnrr, cannot participate in the debate: I have an expiry date for the Plan and for me that is it."
