Commission greenlights Italy’s ninth payment request for €12.8 billion under NextGenerationEU

April 29, 2026 by The Sting's Team Leave a Comment

This article is brought to you in association with the European Economic and Social Committee. — (Credit:Unsplash)

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Today, the Commission positively assessed Italy’s ninth payment request of €12.8 billion under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU. Following its assessment of the payment request, the Commission found that Italy has satisfactorily completed all 16 milestones and 34 targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision.

The reforms and investments tied to this payment request will drive positive change for citizens and businesses in Italy – covering public administration, tax modernisation, judicial efficiency, and procurement transparency.

Other positive impacts will include strengthening education and research, improving healthcare, boosting tourism and cultural development, and fostering innovation in the energy transition, agriculture, and the circular economy.

Flagship measures in this payment request include:

Extending the Guaranteed Employability programme for Workers: the programme enabled at least 3 million individuals to benefit from Active Labour Market Policies, with over 600,000 successfully participating in training – particularly in digital skills development.
Reducing early school leaving: more than 800,000 at-risk students and early leavers received support through targeted mentoring and upskilling programmes.
Strengthened research funding: a new law established a framework for a three-year research financing plan, aimed at improving funding stability for the sector.
Clearing the justice backlog: first instance administrative courts cut by more than 80% the number of pending cases between July 2023 and December 2025, enhancing judicial efficiency.
Greening the emergency response fleet: the National Fire Brigade deployed over 3,800 new low-emission vehicles, modernising its operational capacity while reducing environmental impact.
Restoring the cultural heritage: 110 historic parks and gardens were revitalised, safeguarding Italy’s natural and architectural legacy.

Next steps

The Commission has now sent its preliminary assessment of Italy´s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Council’s Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to Italy can take place following the EFC’s opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission.

Background

Italy submitted its ninth payment request on 30 December 2025. The Italian recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investments and reforms. The plan will be financed by €194.4 billion – €71.8 billion in grants and €122.6 billion in loans.

This payment request will bring the funds paid out to Italy under the RRF to about €166 billion (including the €25 billion in pre-financing received on 13 August 2021 and the €551.2 million in pre-financing under REPower EU received on 25 January 2024).

This amount corresponds to 85% of all funds in the Italian plan, with 72% of all milestones and targets in the plan fulfilled.

An interactive map of projects financed by the RRF, as well as the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, is available online. More information on the process of payment requests under the RRF can be found equally online.

With a view to the closure of the Facility at the end of 2026, Members States must implement all outstanding milestones and targets by the end of August 2026 and submit last payment requests by the end of September.

For more information

Commission’s preliminary assessment of Italy’s ninth payment request

Plan overview, full plan and all other related documents

Country snapshot

Recovery and Resilience Facility

Recovery and Resilience Facility project map

Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation

Recovery and Resilience payment claim process

EU as a borrower

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