EU disburses seventh NRRP payment to Italy: EUR 18.3 billion released

Brussels – Italy has done well, achieving the goals and targets agreed at the European level on reforms as part of its National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). For this reason, the EU Commission announced the seventh payment of EUR 18.3 billion, of which EUR 4.6 billion is in grants and EUR 13.7 billion in loans. The work of the government is acknowledged and rewarded, particularly for promoting competition and transparency, areas for which “significant measures” have been taken at the national level, according to the assessment by the EU executive.

Specifically, the Commission praises the new Annual Competition Law 2023 that promotes public tendering procedures and greater supervision in sectors such as motorways. In addition, the country “improved” accessibility for rail passengers with disabilities and reduced mobility by renovating 10 stations in southern Italy, the EU Commission’s accompanying note added. Furthermore, the Commission notes with satisfaction that Italy has increased its renewable energy distribution capacity by 1,848 Megawatts through the installation of new substations, the modernization of existing ones, and the upgrading of distribution lines, enhancing the grid’s ability to distribute clean energy.

With this disbursement, European resources guaranteed to Italy through the Recovery Fund, the special post-pandemic recovery fund that finances national recovery plans, rise to around EUR 140 billion. So far, Italy has already managed to secure 72 percent of the total funds destined for the country, or a total of 194.4 billion euros between grants (71.8 billion) and loans (122.6 billion), the EU Commission said. The seventh installment is cause for satisfaction for
the government, which was targeting to collect it in 2025.

​Italy continues along the path it began in 2021, the first year of EU disbursements. Of the 139.9 billion euros collected so far, 24.9 billion came in 2021 (pre-financing, released 13 August), 42 billion in 2022 (two installments of 21 billion each, on 13 April and 8 November), 35 billion in 2023 (18.5 billion on 9 October and 16.5 billion on 28 December). A total of 19.7 billion was disbursed in 2024 (with two separate installments, the first of 11 billion on 5 August, and the second of 8.7 billion on 23 December).