Cuts to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan: €77 Million "Stolen" from Trapani Province

 The amount of €77 million has been "snatched" from the already allocated funds of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) by the Meloni government. Considering that the total investment amount is €250 million, this accounts for a cut of almost 30%. These funds had previously been allocated to local authorities but are now no longer available.

This report comes from the Openpolis portal.

Last week, Minister Raffaele Fitto went to parliament to present the proposed modification of the national recovery and resilience plan (PNRR), which the government intends to submit to the European Commission. Among the interventions that caused the most controversy is the defunding of nine measures.

The government justified this decision by explaining that these investments largely finance ongoing projects. In other words, these projects were conceived before the start of the PNRR and often do not align with the constraints and criteria required by the EU. Moreover, some of these projects, as they were originally designed, risk not being completed by 2026. However, such cuts would have a particularly significant impact on local authorities, primarily municipalities and metropolitan cities. This choice has inevitably sparked many controversies, despite the government's assurance that all projects affected by the defunded measures will be recovered through the use of other resources.

One of the cross-cutting objectives of the PNRR was to reduce disparities, starting with regional differences. Unfortunately, this objective will remain unfulfilled, as the majority of the resources cut due to the plan's reshaping were destined for the South. Not only that, according to Minister Fitto, the projects removed from the PNRR could be financed through Cohesion Funds. Here's the catch: these resources are already allocated for other projects in the South. If they are redirected towards the PNRR projects, they will be taken from other territories, and the resources left in the South will not be sufficient to finance both the PNRR and the other projects. Hence, a double penalty.

CUTS TO CONFISCATED ASSETS. One final defunded measure worth mentioning is the one related to the enhancement of assets confiscated from the mafia, with a total value of €300 million. Interestingly, neither the government nor ANCI (National Association of Italian Municipalities) have reported any concerns. However, the aforementioned parliamentary dossier highlights that this measure, along with the one for the strengthening of community infrastructures in inland areas, will be used for a rather different purpose. Namely, the creation of a unique special economic zone in the South that will complement the existing eight.