The machine of the implementation of Pnrr, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, fails to get off the ground. The delays are starting to pile up and Brussels is being stricter than usual when it comes to analyzing the goals and the results achieved. Yesterday the Minister of the South Raffaele Fittowho is responsible for the Pnrr, met with the European Commissioner Paul Gentiloni try to round the corners to release the payment of the 19,000 million share of the objectives concluded in 2022, and continue the dialogue in the face of the modification request that Italy will present to the Plan at the end of April with the aim of inserting a new chapter in the Pnrr from the RepowerEu project, with new resources to strengthen the energy independence of the country.
The Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, is convinced that the payment of the 19,000 million to Italy will arrive within the month of May once the delays of the “green ports” and the question of the application of the bill of the competition But more than 2022, what worries are the works of 2023 which, three months into the year, already seem to have problems. And, hidden for the time being, the growing tension between the ministries and the councils over the responsibility for the delays has begun to increase. Some forty billion works related to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan go through the municipalities. Several construction works are behind schedule. The government is breathing in the mayors and suggests that, if the works are not restarted, it could use the tools at its disposal, the main one being the special powers with the commissioning of the works. A strong decision. But relations between the government and local councils have been tense for weeks.
Since the Anci in the unified conference expressed serious doubts about the differentiated autonomy project signed by Roberto Calderoli. The government ignored the opinion of the mayors and followed its path, approving the text in the Council of Ministers without the changes requested by the Councils. The battle is not over. Anci is ready to re-submit its package of amendments to Calderoli’s text to Parliament and, in the meantime, has mandated its think tank, Ifel, to calculate the real costs of autonomy.
So someone in the government has begun to think that the game of differentiated regionalism could be intertwined with that of the Pnrr delays. For now, just suspicions. The mayors, for their part, definitely point the finger precisely at the ministries.
THE DOCUMENT
In a document delivered to the Senate, Anci, the Association of Municipalities, accused the government of wanting to order the works under its responsibility without taking into account that much of the accumulated delays depend precisely on the ministries and not the town halls. The mayors told Infrastructures that there are 11,000 unpaid requests for compensation for expensive materials. Thus, the councils were unable to pay the companies for the progress of the works during the second half of 2021.
Many construction works have been suspended. Then, in some cases, the Councils claim to have been even too fast compared to the times of the ministries. As for the “Pinqua” projects, the innovative programs for urban life, financed with the Pnrr. The projects were activated before May 18, 2022 and now cannot access the expensive material supply, because the decree of the Ministry of Economy came after that date and therefore does not include them. The Town Councils, writes the Anci, “have made a great effort in terms of reorganisation, increase in their administrative capacity, awarding of works within the planned deadlines. This”, they argue, “despite the delays in the definition of the agreements and the lack of uniformity in the rules of engagement by the central administrations”. In short, the battle of the mayors is just beginning. Also because the Municipalities run the risk of being crushed by the ministries on the Pnrr and by the Regions on autonomy.
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Source : IL Messaggero
