From the envoy to Brussels. It’s easy to say Recovery Fund. A bit more complicated is translating the political agreement reached in July by the 27 leaders into the relevant legal texts, an indispensable step to then allow the Commission to issue bonds and transfer resources to the capitals. These days the old tensions and the usual disagreements are re-emerging. And so yesterday the German ambassador to the EU warned that a delay will “most likely be inevitable”. This is why Italy is working on counter-moves with an offensive that aims to streamline the bureaucratic process of the “Next Generation EU”. With the update note to the Def to be approved and the Budget law to be written, Rome cannot afford a postponement of payments.
After the summer break, the battle between the governments on the dossier which in July had seen the EU leaders engaged in five consecutive days of negotiations has begun. Among the protagonists of the dispute there are certainly Poland and Hungary, which reject the conditionalities linked to respect for the rule of law. But in the last few hours there have been great “suspicious movements” of the Frugals (the Netherlands and Finland in primis), who have started off again to sabotage the 750 billion dollar maxi-plan with a clear goal: to play the postponement.
For the Italian government, time really is money in this game. And so a diplomatic pressure began in Brussels to try to speed up the disbursement of funds. The playing field is the regulation that defines the governance process of the “Next Generation Eu”, with Rome wanting to streamline the procedure for monitoring expenses (necessary to approve the payment of installments). But the attempt immediately collided, coincidentally, with the resistance of the Frugali. There is still no definitive solution on this point and it will be up to the finance ministers to unravel the problem during the Ecofin meeting scheduled for Tuesday 6 October.
Confindustria, Bonomi to Conte: “Bankruptcy is prohibited on Recovery Fund or we all go home”
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The agreement of July aestablished that each national plan must be approved by the Commission (within eight weeks) and the Council (within four weeks). But that’s not all: the text of the Recovery also provides for further evaluations to authorize all subsequent payments. The go-ahead is up to the Commission which “must seek the opinion of the economic-financial committee (made up of governments, ed.)”. On this point there is a back and forth between Italy (supported by the other countries of the South) and Holland. The Mediterranean people, to speed up the times, want the evaluation of the Commission and that of the Economic-Financial Committee to proceed simultaneously. And that that of the latter is “non-binding”. The Hague opposes and presses for a consequential evaluation: first the Commission expresses itself, but then the governments must give the ok.
At the table with his European colleagues, Roberto Gualtieri will also find another grain. Italy wants to eliminate from the regulation of the “Recovery and Resilience Facility” any reference to the recommendations relating to budgetary adjustments and procedures for macroeconomic imbalances. For the Dutch and the Austrians there is no mention of it: the reference to the accounts in order must exist, they argue, even more so now that the Stability and Growth Pact is suspended.
Yesterday, the German presidency cashed in the negotiating mandate to bring its compromise proposal on the rule of law to the table with the European Parliament. Berlin obtained a qualified majority, but nine countries took sides against: Hungary and Poland on the one hand, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium and Luxembourg on the other, with opposite motivations. Negotiations with the European Parliament (which is also asking to increase the resources of the budget) will not be easy at all, but diplomatic sources explain that the real problem lies within the Council. Because it is true that a qualified majority was enough for the negotiating mandate, but then all countries will have to agree to start the long process of national ratifications. One is enough to block everything.
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