MNI BRIEF: Commission To Study Italy Request For NGEU Top-Up

The European Commission will send a mission to Italy in early December to examine the new government’s requests for an expansion of its EUR200 billion Recovery and Resilience Plan in response to inflation, and for parts of the plan to be repurposed towards energy projects, an EU official told MNI.

The mission will also handle Italy’s request for a third tranche of EU money under the plan, which must be submitted before the end of the year, the official said.

For now the Commission has not received any formal petition from Italy for changes to its plan, the EU official said. Additional energy project funding might better come from the separate RepowerEU initiative, the official said. (See MNI: Italy Seen Meeting EU Funds Targets; More Scrutiny Likely)

The Commission has already approved the latest EUR21 billion tranche, even though new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has announced a 60-day delay in implementation of a justice system reform which must be in place by the end of the year as a condition for payment. Italy must meet targets to submits its third payment request, the official said.

Modifications made by the new government to rules on beach concessions included within an overhaul of competition regulation pledged to the EU will not be an impediment to the payment request, the official said.