Corriere della Sera snaps on Pnrr, Brussels and Lease
Because the picture provided by Corriere della Sera on the Pnrr is not convincing. Giuseppe Liturri's comment
The well-known aphorism of Karl Marx – according to which history always repeats itself twice: the first as a tragedy, the second as a farce – fits the PNRR perfectly.
Regarding which we allow ourselves only to reverse the order and put farce before tragedy. Today is the time for farce, for comedy. But the moment of tragedy is already clear on the horizon.
The reference to the farce appears appropriate reading what Federico Fubini wrote in today's Corriere della Sera , expertly fed by sources that cannot fail to be of ministerial origin.
One can only smile – as would happen in a comic theater piece – thinking that now the fault of the many (too many) slowdowns that are conditioning the assessment and payment of the third installment is (hear, hear…) the lack of “ fluidity ” in the communications between Rome and Brussels. In particular – according to the well-informed Fubini – the lack of knowledge of English on the part of the minister Raffaele Fitto and the head of the new mission structure of Palazzo Chigi Carlo Selvaggi. The two are attributed to the absence of " constant contacts " with Brussels, limiting themselves to " videoconference meetings every seven or ten days ". It is leaked – again via Fubini – that “at least in one case they would have used a Brussels official brought by the previous government to Palazzo Chigi, Claudio Casini, to have his statements translated and the answers of European officials ”.
So one would like us to believe that, with an elephantine bureaucratic structure – central service for the PNRR, now General Inspectorate for the PNRR , headed by Carmine di Nuzzo, control room for the PNRR, technical secretariat for the PNRR – there is a need for a English level C1 of Fitto or Selvaggi to discuss technical and regulatory aspects that are normally the responsibility of an administrative level at least a couple of steps lower than the political one of a minister? But do me a favor… the great Totò would have said. Or find a better and less ridiculous excuse, we dare to add.
Let's just spread a pitiful veil over the whitewashed sepulchres which – after inserting four pennies into the PNRR against hydrogeological instability – now remember to " use more money than the PNRR against instability ". But they forget that that plan is rigid and can only contain spending that falls within the Commission's targets.
Faced with a disorganized exit of this kind – comparable to the classic severed horse's head found in the bed – one might think that Fitto is really annoying in his activity of rationalizing a jumble of projects hastily pulled out of the drawers in a few weeks between February and April 2021, in order to plant the flag of the plan presented promptly by 30 April of that year.
Fitto is accused of "keeping his cards face down ". Which is exactly what he himself stated in Parliament last April 26, when he specified that a punctual recognition of the feasibility of all projects had to be carried out to verify their effective feasibility and reporting by 06/30/2026. And it is an operation that must be completed now, because it would be a real failure for everyone to declare the non-feasibility of some projects close to the 2026 deadline. Since we are dealing with around 180,000 projects, you will well understand the Sisyphean effort that is underway in Rome between ministries, Palazzo Chigi and local authorities.
Also on that occasion, Fitto now took for granted the points of conflict with the Commission which blocked the favorable opinion for the payment of the third installment. Basically, the government had bowed to all the diktats of Brussels: port concessions, tender for district heating, integrated urban plans (the famous stadiums in Florence and Venice). Instead now, after almost 5 months (of which 3 of extension) the Commission still raises other doubts, classified under the heading "various minor issues". It is in Rome that they should be piqued by these constant raises, not in Brussels.
But dark clouds are also gathering over the 27 goals to be achieved by June to unlock the 16 billion in the fourth installment. Among these stands out the Superbonus case (partly financed by the PNRR) for which it seems it is not possible to demonstrate results on the environmental front, as a consequence of the replacement of gas boilers with other boilers… gas. In addition to this, there is a request for revision of ten objectives, three or four of which are substantial.
Returning to the front of the revision of the PNRR, the "irritation and intolerance" of Brussels, of which Fubini is the bearer, also focus on this point. In fact, all Member States have been invited to present an additional chapter of their respective recovery plans to exploit RepowerEU funds (another 2.7 billion for Italy) to diversify energy sources by freeing themselves from Russian supplies and incentivize investments in sources renewable. Fitto and the government intend to make full use of the August 31st deadline – initially set to request additional funds with respect to the initial plan – if only because these new projects must necessarily be coordinated with those already underway and therefore it makes no sense to have a double tracks. The train of the PNRR is unique and the revision of the projects will be a single body with the new RepowerUE projects. On this front, by Fitto's own admission, an important role will be played by the public subsidiaries (Eni, Enel, Snam, Terna) as actuators. Again, these are time-consuming projects.
In short, the Commission " would like to be informed before the formal presentation" and continue to decide itself how to spend money that does not grow under the tree in the Campo dei Miracoli but is the debt of the Italian Republic. And she makes no secret of letting it be known that she does not at all like the will of this government and of Fitto to think carefully before increasing the country's debt. Moreover, for expenses, such as those for the ecological and digital transition, which feed supply chains located mainly abroad and which increase the GDP of others, not ours.
Just in order not to miss anything, we recall the relatively low level recorded in recent months by the liquidity of the Treasury, orphaned by the failure to collect the 19 billion of the third installment and probably of the 16 of the fourth.
A not so veiled way of getting Rome " an offer it won't be able to refuse" , made even more convincing by the Englishman's ridiculous excuse.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/il-corriere-della-sera-sbrocca-su-pnrr-bruxelles-e-fitto/ on Sun, 21 May 2023 18:55:45 +0000.