ROME (Reuters) -Italy’s government is determined not to lose any of the money it is entitled from the European Union post-pandemic recovery funds, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Monday.
Italy is due to receive a total of around 200 billion euros ($217 billion) in grants and cheap loans through 2026, making it the EU scheme’s largest beneficiary in absolute terms.
However, it is falling behind both on targets agreed with Brussels in return for the aid and also on spending money already received.
“I’m not worried about the delays (on the recovery fund), we are working a lot on this,” Meloni told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Verona, blaming problems on previous governments.
“I don’t take into consideration the possibility of losing the funds.”
Her remarks came after Riccardo Molinari, leader of the co-ruling League party in the lower house of parliament, told the Affari Italiani news site that Italy could no longer tap some of the EU loans since it was having trouble spending them.
The European Commission has frozen a 19 billion euro ($20.65 billion) fund instalment for Italy, requesting clarification over Rome’s efforts to meet the conditions linked to the money.
Scope Ratings told Reuters on Monday that significant delays in Italian efforts to meet the targets in its recovery plan would likely lower the country’s medium-term growth prospects, with a negative impact for its credit rating.
($1 = 0.9206 euros)
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Angelo Amante, editing by Alvise Armellini and Andrew Cawthorne)
