A draft decree on implementation of Italy's EU-funded post-Covid national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP) includes a clampdown on implementing bodies to make them more accountable, sources said on Monday.
The so-called 'omnibus' package, which could come before the cabinet for examination and approval on Monday, enables the government to enact replacement powers in the event of misalignment between the schedule for interventions and the data communicated by the implementing bodies for official monitoring.
In addition, under the provisions of the draft decree, the titleholder of the intervention is required to return the funding received in the event that European Commission technical experts ascertain "the omission or incomplete achievement of objectives".
The decree also reportedly includes provisions for combating fraud, as well as on university housing, tax incentives for the industrial transition, document digitization within public administrations and recruitment within the judiciary.
It also supposedly contains a chapter on labor that includes measures to prevent and combat irregular employment, a hot topic in Italy after a structural collapse at a building site in Florence on February 16 left five construction workers dead and three seriously injured.
Italy's revised NRRP to make the economy greener, more modern and less dependent on Russian fossil fuels is worth a total of 194.4 billion euros, of which 122.6 billion euros in loans and71.8 billion euros in grants.
It covers 66 reforms - seven more than the original plan - and150 investments that must be completed by the deadline of 2026.
Late last year the country received the fourth installment of payment worth 16.5 billion euro, taking to around 90 billion euro the total amount paid out so made by Brussels.
However, earlier this month the State Audit Court reported that there have been several reports of irregularities in implementation.
"The preparation of the contextual rules having been completed, the implementation of the NRRP is now in full swing and there are already several reports of irregularities," said general prosecutor PioSilvestri in his report for the inauguration of the judicial year.
The general prosecutor highlighted in particular reports of "undue receipt or incorrect use of funds by the implementing bodies, irregularities in the receipt of contributions subspecies for works that do not conform to plans or show very significant delays in their implementation".
Photo: European Affairs and NRRP Minister Raffaele Fitto.
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