Brussels paid Italy the fifth 11 billion installment of the NRRP. Meloni: “First in the EU for goals achieved”

Brussels – The European Commission paid today (Aug. 5) the fifth installment of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). The payment is worth €11 billion in grants and loans, net of pre-financing.

With the collection of the fifth installment, Italy has received 58.4 percent of the total resources of the NRRP to date, amounting to 113.5 billion euros out of a total of 194.4 billion, the most conspicuous Plan in Europe. As early as July 2, Brussels had approved a positive preliminary assessment of the 53 milestones and targets required to release the 11 billion installment, including the implementation of 14 reforms and 22 investments in areas such as competition law, public procurement, waste and water management, justice, the spending review framework, and education.

The subsequent favorable opinion of the Council’s Economic and Financial Committee paved the way for the adoption of the final decision on the disbursement of funds by the Commission. Italy already sent a request to Brussels for the payment of the sixth installment, worth €8.5 billion, and is working to verify and monitor the progress of the 69 milestones and objectives of the seventh installment of the NRRP, equivalent to €18.2 billion.

“Italy is in first place in Europe in terms of the number of targets achieved and the total amount received,” Council President Giorgia Meloni said, pointing out in a note the data that testify to the albeit timid economic growth in the country: “Recent Istat GDP data, which estimates an acquired growth in the first half of 2024 of 0.7 percent, and the latest data from the Svimez report, which in 2023 shows the decisive acceleration of GDP in the south of Italy, with an increase in new employment of 2.6 percent, are proof of the effective work” of the government team, the premier claimed.

“In the coming months, along with the assessment activity preparatory to the payment of the sixth installment, the government will intensify monitoring of the implementation of the Plan in constructive cooperation with the European Commission and all the Administrations involved,” said European Affairs Minister Raffaele Fitto, who is negotiating on the NRRP in Brussels on behalf of the Meloni government.