Italy gets EU backing to revise its post-COVID recovery plan
By Giuseppe Fonte and Sudip Kar-Gupta
ROME (Reuters) -The European Commission said on Friday it had given a positive assessment of Italy's proposals to revise its post-COVID recovery plan, including investments and reforms to make the country's economy greener under the REPowerEU scheme.
Implementation of the plan is seen by investors and rating agencies as a key measure of Italy's ability to support economic activity and keep in check the country's creaking public finances.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said «the government has done a job it can be very proud,» while her office said the updated plan would result in «an additional 21 billion euros» ($22.90 billion) devoted to boosting Italy's growth.
The overall investment programme is now worth some 194.4 billion euros in loans and grants and covers 66 reforms — seven more than in the original plan — and 150 investments, the European Commission said in a statement.
Italy was originally due to receive 191.5 billion euros through 2026 under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the main component of the European recovery fund.
However, Rome fell behind schedule both in spending the tranches of cash that arrived from Brussels, and in meeting policy targets to trigger the release of fresh payments.
As a result, Meloni launched talks with Brussels to revive the plan by shelving some of the original projects and adding new ones.
The REPowerEU scheme strengthens the recovery fund and is part of the bloc's efforts to end dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the green transition.
Italy's REPowerEU chapter includes 12 new investments mainly focused on strengthening electricity networks and energy security, and speeding up renewable energy production.
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