Prepared by Vitalba Passarelli, Giovanni Marra and Maria Lisa Centini
Last April 30th, after approval by the Chamber and the Senate, Draghi government submitted to the European Commission the final version of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), so-called Recovery Plan, the document that explains how the Italian Government intends to use the funds that will come from the European Union through the Next Generation EU (NGEU), so-called Recovery Fund, i.e. the main EU instrument, with a total value of 750 billion euro, to contrast the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The PNRR, with a total endowment of about 235 billion euro, represents an important opportunity to accelerate the ecological transition and to make the Italian system more sustainable in the long term, through the progressive decarbonization of all sectors. The Government, therefore, intends to develop technological and industrial leadership in the main transition chains in an equitable and inclusive way, helping to reduce the North-South gap and implementing adequate training policies. In particular, the Plan intends to encourage training, dissemination and more generally the development of an environmental culture that permeates all the behavior of the population.
The European Commission is called upon to evaluate the Plans proposed by the various countries and will have to draw up a proposal to the Council of the European Union for final approval, which will take place by next 31 July. This proposal will contain the schedule of interventions, with the stages that each country will have to reach for the disbursement of funds.
Italy is the first beneficiary, in absolute value, of the two main support instruments for the states envisaged by the NGEU: the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) with an endowment of over 191 billion euro, which has a duration of six years (from 2021 to 2026), and the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU), with an endowment of approximately 13 billion, conceived in a shorter term (2021-2022), in order to help European countries in the initial phase of relaunch of their economies. In addition to the European resources, there are approximately 31 billion deriving from a complementary fund allocated by the Italian Government.
The relaunch of Italy, outlined by the PNRR, develops around three strategic axes shared at European level: digitization and innovation, ecological transition and social inclusion.
The digitization and innovation of processes, products and services represent a determining factor in the transformation of the country and characterize every reform policy of the Plan. The Plan in fact provides the implementation of strategies aimed at catching up on the delay accumulated in this field and promoting investments in technologies, infrastructures and digital processes.
The ecological transition, as indicated by the UN 2030 Agenda and the new European objectives for 2030, is at the basis of the new Italian and European development model and it can be an important factor to increase the competitiveness of our production system, encourage new and high value-added entrepreneurial activities and the creation of stable employment.
Social inclusion is essential to improve territorial cohesion, help economic growth and overcome deep inequalities often accentuated by the pandemic. The three main priorities are gender equality, the protection and enhancement of young people and overcoming territorial gaps. Female empowerment and the fight against gender discrimination, the growth of skills, capacity and employment prospects of young people, territorial rebalancing and the development of the South are not univocally entrusted to single interventions but pursued as transversal objectives in all the components of the PNRR.
In compliance with the guidelines of the European Commission, the PNRR is divided into 16 Components, grouped into 6 Missions, articulated in line with the 6 Pillars of the RRF Regulation, including: green transition, digital transformation, smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, social and territorial cohesion, health and economic, social and institutional resilience, policies for the new generations, children and young people. Below we present the contents of each mission and the budget of resources that will be used to achieve the set objectives.
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