EU's Gentiloni says Italy can't afford any delays on recovery plan

Paolo Gentiloni, European commissioner for economy, attends a news conference about the quarterly economic forecast of the EU Commission in Brussels, Belgium on 14 July, 2022.

Italy cannot afford delays in implementing its post-COVID rehabilitation programme, said the European Union's Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni. This comes as Italy heads to the polls to elect a new government.

Gentiloni, when asked if it was possible to make changes to the EU-wide Recovery Programme to address the energy crisis facing the bloc said that energy transition was already a key objective of the programme. Only a fine-tuning was possible of the recovery plans countries had agreed to.

He said: "What we cannot afford is to stop starting all over again."

He said: "For countries that receive large contributions like Spain or Italy, the recovery plan really is a matter of a race for time."

Rome has the right to €200 billion ($199bn) or $205bn in grants and loans from the fund that was created to aid the 27 member countries of the bloc recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

($1 = €1.0049)