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Why Italy is struggling to find ways to spend €200 billion in EU funds

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Why Italy is struggling to find ways to spend €200 billion in EU funds

“It’s mathematical. It’s scientific. Some initiatives gained’t be accomplished by 2026.” With these blunt phrases, Italy’s Minister for European Affairs Raffaele Fitto confirmed in late March what many in Rome and Brussels had been dreading for months.

Italy is certainly struggling to spend the €191 billion it secured from the European Union via the Restoration Fund, an unprecedented €672-billion programme launched in 2020 to assist member states get again on monitor after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Italy obtained the most important portion of these funds, however the nation is now operating behind because of its elephantine forms, restricted human assets, and a common administrative and political system unfit to handle such an unlimited activity.

A widely known drawback

Though extensively reported by the media and public spending watchdogs, Italy’s difficulties in managing the Restoration Fund’s assets turned plain on March 27. That is when the European Fee determined to postpone by a month the disbursement of the third installment of the plan, price €19 billion, as a way to have extra time to evaluate whether or not the nation glad all of the circumstances required to unlock the funds.

The next day, the Nationwide Court docket of Auditors printed its biannual progress report for the “Nationwide Restoration and Resilience Plan” (PNRR), the doc which particulars how Italy plans to spend the funds acquired from the EU, itemizing all of the scheduled reforms and investments.

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In line with the report, Italy has up to now spent €23 billion, simply over a 3rd of the €67 billion already acquired. 

That’s not sufficient: earlier estimates banked on the nation having spent at the least €40 billion by now, and the Court docket forecasted that on the finish of the yr, bills will stay €15 billion decrease than what was initially deliberate. 

In early February, Italy’s Minister for the Economic system and Finance Giancarlo Giorgetti stated that the nation would wish an additional yr to spend all the cash, suggesting it needs to be allowed to have till 2027 to finish the works. 

Since taking workplace final October, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been speaking about the necessity to assessment the PNRR, inherited from the earlier authorities led by Mario Draghi, claiming that the excessive inflation charges and the implications of the struggle in Ukraine have modified the panorama in unexpected methods. Altering the phrases of the PNRR is technically doable, however it might require a brand new spherical of negotiations with European establishments.

Within the meantime, the clock retains ticking.

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Damaged forms

One of many predominant causes for the delays is the Italian bureaucratic equipment, whose infamously gradual and sophisticated procedures are unfit to handle such a lot of assets in such a short while.

Smaller municipalities are particularly struggling to maintain up with the calls for of the PNRR. 

“There’s a large hole between bigger cities, which may depend on extra assets, and small cities, whose administrative workplaces are sometimes understaffed and lack the technical abilities wanted to observe advanced initiatives,” Mario Conte, president of the Veneto department for the Nationwide Confederation of Native Authorities (Anci) and Mayor of Treviso, advised Euronews.

Moreover, “aside from the PNRR, native municipalities additionally have to attend to their day-to-day duties, which additionally demand a variety of effort and time,” Conte added. 

In lots of circumstances, the quantity of EU funds acquired by native municipalities is larger than their common annual price range. Treviso, as an illustration, normally manages €90 million per yr, and it ought to obtain a complete of €104 million from the PNRR: “We’re mainly doubling up our price range, however we nonetheless have the identical quantity of individuals to handle it,” Conte advised Euronews.

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Unable to maintain up with the tight deadlines and the bureaucratic procedures, some districts have already determined to forgo a part of the funds.

Castenaso, a 16,000-people city near Bologna, turned down a €4 million grant to construct a brand new facility for curler sports activities. “Once we utilized for the funds, we didn’t have an in depth venture,” Castenaso’s Mayor Carlo Gubellini advised Euronews. 

“After being chosen we studied the matter extra in-depth, and realised that the allotted funds weren’t sufficient and that the deadlines had been too tight.” Nevertheless, Castenaso is at the moment shifting ahead with a number of initiatives financed by the PNRR.

The problems, from stadiums to bushes

Aside from the difficulties skilled by smaller municipalities, Italy’s PNRR can be coping with technical issues on the next degree. 

Final month, the European Fee questioned the choice to allocate nearly €150 million to 2 sports activities initiatives: the renovation of the “Artemio Franchi” soccer Stadium in Florence, constructed within the Nineteen Thirties, and the constructing of a brand new sports activities centre in Venice. 

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In line with the Fee, these initiatives wouldn’t assist to enhance their respective areas and thus wouldn’t profit most people, an indispensable requirement for all of the initiatives funded via European cash.

The Florence stadium would have 40,000 seats and will price €194 million, €55 million of that are anticipated to return from the PNRR. The Venice sports activities centre would come with a 16,000-seats stadium, an area for indoor sports activities, and different social venues for a complete price of €283 million, a few third of which – €93.5 million – coming from the PNRR.

These initiatives weren’t included within the authentic model of the Plan introduced by Draghi’s authorities in 2021, however had been detailed in April 2022 as a part of the “Built-in City Plans,” an inventory of particular interventions to be carried out in Italy’s largest cities with assets from the Restoration Fund. In the mean time, the way forward for the 2 sports activities services in Florence and Venice stays unclear, and it’s doable that they are going to be excluded from EU-funded programmes.

Within the meantime, Rome and Brussels have additionally been quarreling over one other problem: bushes.

Italy allotted €330 million for planting 6.6 million bushes in 14 cities by 2024 via the PNRR, with 1.7 million by the top of 2022. The initiative is supposed to scale back air air pollution and enhance inexperienced areas in city settings, however planting thousands and thousands of bushes is proving to be simpler stated than achieved. 

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In a report launched final month, the Court docket of Auditors licensed a number of delays, highlighting that in lots of circumstances the “bushes” weren’t precise bushes however simply seeds in glasshouses, and that most of the bushes that had been planted are already withered.

The European Fee is at the moment gathering additional proof on Italy’s progress with the PNRR, and will quickly present updates concerning the disbursement of the third installment of the plan. 

This case appears to point out that it’s apparently simpler to acquire €191 billion from the European Union than truly spend it.

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Why These Chinese Working Mothers Don’t Want More Babies

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Why These Chinese Working Mothers Don’t Want More Babies

One leads a team at a financial firm and earns more than her husband. Another is pursuing her dream of becoming a civil servant. A third is a budding influencer who aspires to be the family breadwinner.

Each woman is raising one young child and doesn’t want another — no matter what their husbands say, or what incentives the Chinese government, worried about an aging population, is dangling.

Gone are the days of China’s one-child policy. At a recent political forum, President Xi Jinping urged women to take on greater familial responsibilities and “play their unique role in carrying forward the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation.”

These women see a different role for themselves. This generation was born into small families, with many girls growing up as only children — and getting opportunities that used to be given only to boys. Their own mothers, who didn’t have multiple children to care for, typically worked outside the home and set examples for their daughters to do the same.

“I must have my own career.”

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Joyce Zhao, 29, Project manager

Joyce Zhao had worked for three years as a project manager at a small tech company in Beijing and was expecting a promotion. But when she became pregnant with her son, Ming, her prospects dimmed.

Her boss, a woman who had been advocating for her to be given a leadership role, left the team while Ms. Zhao was on a five-month maternity leave. When she returned to work, her new boss told her that she was behind and needed to work harder.

I was drowning in self-doubt, wondering whether having a child at this point in time was the wrong thing to do,” Ms. Zhao said.

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But, she said, she never once thought about quitting her job and staying at home.

“I only have myself to rely on,” Ms. Zhao. “I must have my own career and not give it up for anything.”

A few months after Ming’s first birthday, Ms. Zhao, who is 29, decided to leave her company, and landed a job at one of the biggest tech companies in China.

Her husband would like a second child, but Ms. Zhao is not interested. Her days are already grueling enough. Her four-hour commute to work and long hours mean she gets home way past Ming’s bedtime. She rises at 6:30 a.m. to have one hour to herself to read and exercise, and one hour to play and have breakfast with her son.

After college, Ms. Zhao set aside her dream of becoming a civil servant to pursue a higher-paying job. Now, having checked off marriage and childbearing, she plans to study for the notoriously difficult civil servant exam.

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“I divide my time, energy and money into different parts, saving the biggest part for myself, then the rest go to my parents, husband and son,” Ms. Zhao said. “I can’t let them take all of me.”

“I see no benefits to having two children.”

Guo Chunlei, 32, Influencer

Before Guo Chunlei got married, she worked at a bank in the eastern city of Hangzhou, making about $2,000 a month, decent by Chinese standards. Her parents bought her a small apartment and a car, so she spent most of her paycheck on beauty, fashion and traveling.

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When she decided to have a baby in 2022, her husband and in-laws, who ran a booming family business in construction, encouraged her to switch to a less demanding job to have more time for the child. Ms. Guo agreed and joined a publicly traded company as an accountant. But the work was repetitive and unfulfilling, and she was earning only about a third of what she used to make.

The steep pay cut became a bigger and bigger problem. As her daughter, Tianyi, grew up, expenses began soaring. Early education classes alone ate up a third of her salary.

Seeking extra money, and a sense of purpose, Ms. Guo started a mom-influencer account on the lifestyle app Xiaohongshu last year. A post she composed about planning a traditional Chinese birthday party for her daughter got tens of thousands of views and opened the door to brand collaborations.

She now spends weekday evenings writing captions, editing photos and doing product research. Photo shoots with Tianyi in nearby parks have become a weekend family activity.

Ms. Guo’s account has amassed more than 10,000 followers and brings in more money from product sponsorships than her day job. She’s considering becoming an influencer full time, and would like to take over as her family’s main provider.

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Ms. Guo recalls her own parents sacrificing to provide for her and her younger brother. It made her determined to follow a different path.

“I see no benefits to having two children, for either myself or for Tianyi,” she said.

I want to make something of myself.”

Tang Pingjuan, 36, Financial manager

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Like many working women in China today, Tang Pingjuan, 36, has higher expectations than did many of the women who came before her.

Growing up under the old one-child policy, she got the undivided attention of her father, a train driver, and her mother, a teacher, she recalls. And like many girls in her generation, she was given opportunities that had once been reserved for boys.

When it came time to attend college, Ms. Tang went hundreds of miles away from home to pursue a degree in mathematics, a field dominated by men. (Nearly a third of Chinese women have college degrees now, up from fewer than 1 percent in 1990.)

After graduating, Ms. Tang landed a job in finance and then, at age 25, took a year off and used her savings to travel to more than a dozen countries. Now 36, she leads a team at a private financial company in Guangzhou, the bustling metropolis where she lives with her husband and 4-year-old daughter, Ning.

Ms. Tang earns more than her husband and makes investment decisions for the family.

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Six months after Ning was born, Ms. Tang returned to her office, leaving the baby in the care of a grandmother. On weekends, the family likes splurging on “staycations” at luxury hotels.

Lately, she has been considering a promising job opportunity in the nearby city of Shenzhen, which could mean being separated from her family. Her husband and in-laws oppose the move, but Ms. Tang doesn’t want to be held back. She has not ruled out a second child altogether, she said, but it is not something she is considering now.

“I feel selfish for putting myself before my family, but life is long and I want to make something of myself,” she said.

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Greece denies report alleging coast guard's widespread abuse of migrants

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Greece denies report alleging coast guard's widespread abuse of migrants

Greece on Monday denied a new report that accused its coast guard of brutally preventing migrants from reaching Greek shores, which also alleged that the practice had resulted in dozens of deaths.

A BBC report said it had been ascertained that 43 migrants drowned — including nine who were thrown into the water — in 15 incidents off Greece’s eastern Aegean Sea islands in 2020-2023. It cited interviews with eyewitnesses, following reports from media, charities and the Turkish coast guard.

Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis insisted that there was no evidence to support the allegations.

64 MISSING, AT LEAST 11 DEAD, AFTER 2 SHIPWRECKS OFF ITALIAN COAST

“Our understanding is that what is reported is not proved,” he told a regular press briefing when asked about the claims. “Every complaint is looked into, and in the end, the relevant findings are made public.”

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Greece is a major gateway for migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia seeking a better life in the affluent European Union. Thousands slip into the country every year, mostly in small boats from neighboring Turkey. Relations with Turkey are often tense, and the two countries’ coast guards have repeatedly traded accusations of mistreating migrants.

The Greek flag is photographed cast against a clear sky. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Migrant charities and human rights groups have repeatedly accused Greece’s coast guard and police of illegally preventing arriving migrants from seeking asylum by surreptitiously returning them to Turkish waters. Greece has angrily denied that, arguing its border forces have saved hundreds of thousands of migrants from sinking boats.

The country’s reputation took a further knock in June 2023, when a battered fishing vessel with an estimated 750 people on board sank off southwestern Greece. Only 104 people survived, despite the Greek coast guard having shadowed the vessel for hours, and survivors claimed the trawler sank after a botched attempt by the coast guard to tow it. Greek authorities again denied these allegations.

The new BBC report included a claim by a Cameroonian man that he and two other migrants were picked up by masked men, including policemen, just after landing on the island of Samos.

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The man claimed all three were put in a coast guard boat and thrown into the sea, and that the other two men drowned as a result.

The report also quoted a Syrian man who said he was part of a group picked up at sea by the Greek coast guard off Rhodes. He said the survivors were put in life rafts and left adrift in Turkish waters, where several died after one life raft sank before the Turkish coast guard came to pick them up.

Marinakis said “it is wrong to target” the Greek coast guard. “In any case, we monitor every report and investigation, but I repeat: What is mentioned (in the BBC report) is in no case backed up by evidence,” he said.

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Concentration camp museum director joins campaign to ban AfD

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Concentration camp museum director joins campaign to ban AfD

The German far-right party AfD finished well in the European elections, but has also suffered serious legal setbacks.

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The director of the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial has warned that the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is too dangerous to be allowed to continue in German politics, citing lessons from the rise of the Nazi Party as a warning.

“AfD repeats the terminology of Nazis,” German historian Jens-Christian Wagner said on Monday during a press conference calling for a ban on far-right party.

“The party, i.e. the AfD and its officials and functionaries, represent positions against human dignity,” said Wagner. “They repeatedly make ideological and terminological use of the programmes and practices of historical National Socialism.”

His remarks came after the AfD finished second in the European Parliament elections in early June with around 15.9% of the vote. That put the party ahead of Germany’s ruling Social Democrats, who reached just 13.9% — their worst post-World War II result in a nationwide vote.

“The fact that the Nazis were able to come to power at all was due to the Weimar Republic allowing them to abuse democracy in order to bring down democracy according to their own rules,” Wagner explained. “Anti-constitutional parties must be deprived of the opportunity to use the means of democracy to abolish it.”

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While the AfD’s strong performance in the European elections has alarmed its opponents, the party has also faced major setbacks over its alleged links to the extreme right. Regional leader Björn Höcke was recently fined for using a Nazi slogan at a party event, while a court upheld the party’s designation as a “suspected extremist organisation“.

The AfD was also ejected from its European Parliament group, Identity and Democracy, after former candidate Maximilian Krah told an Italian newspaper that not all members of Hitler’s SS were war criminals.

“The warnings, demonstrations and actions against the AfD have not helped so far,” said Julia Dück, a campaigner from the group AfD Ban Now. “That’s why we need an AfD ban procedure that hinders and stops this party.

“We are at a turning point that could tip authoritarian. Once the AfD has reached a position where it can translate its inhuman goals into state policy, it will no longer be so easy to turn it around. In other words, time is pressing. That means we have to act now,” she said.

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