On the evening of Tuesday 12 January, the Italian government transmitted to the national parliament its €210 billion draft recovery plan, 70% of which will be used for public investment.
This will be complemented by an additional €13 billion under the cohesion policy (ReactEU) and will be distributed as follows according to the six thematic priorities: - €68.9 billion for the environmental transition; - €46.2 billion for the digital transition; - €32 billion for sustainable infrastructure; - €28.5 billion for education and research; - €27.6 billion for social cohesion; - €19.7 billion for health.
“The objectives of the Italian plan include doubling the growth rate of the economy, increasing public investment to at least 3% of GDP and increasing the employment rate by 10% to catch up with the current European average”, said Tiziana Beghin, spokesperson for Movimento 5 Stelle in the European Parliament, in a statement.
This adoption comes at a time when a new political crisis between the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, and the leader of the Italia Viva party, Matteo Renzi, is putting the Italian government coalition to the test. Dissatisfied with the content of the national recovery plan, which, in his view, places too much emphasis on tax gifts to the detriment of investments in the future, Mr Renzi withdrew his party’s support of the government on Wednesday 13 January. Italia Viva is also advocating that Italy apply for assistance from the European Stability Mechanism, the permanent rescue fund for the euro area.
“Italy is one of the main beneficiaries of the Mechanism. It may have an interest in moving forward quickly “, a European source said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday 19 January, the Ecofin Council will take stock of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the instrument at the heart of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan (see EUROPE 12626/1). Member States have until the end of April to send their national plans to the European Commission for evaluation, before adoption by the EU Council.
See the Italian recovery plan: https://bit.ly/2LQnRDK (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)