BRIEF: EC Approves Italy's 5th NGEU Payment Request For EUR11 billion
The European Commission has endorsed Italy's fifth payment request under the NGEU programme for EUR11 billion, following a positive assessment of progress towards 14 reforms and 22 investments to modernise areas such as competition law, public procurement, justice, the spending review framework and education.
The Commission said a problem over methodology in reform of public procurement meant that EUR110 million of the request would be held back for the moment.
The Italian recovery and resilience plan amounts to EUR194.4 billion, with EUR71.8 billion in grants and EUR122.6 billion in loans. While Italy has so far received well over half the funds available to it under NGEU, it only has until the end of 2026 to qualify for the remaining financing. (See MNI: Italy Risks Losing NGEU Money After 2026 -Officials)
EU member state officials now have four weeks to confirm the Commission's positive assesment.