8 June 2023

Facilitate the closure of infringement procedures and pre-infringement cases pending against the Italian State: this is the content of the draft decree law to save infringements (Salva-Infrazioni) proposed by the Minister for European Affairs, the South, Cohesion Policies and the NRRP, Raffaele Fitto, and approved by the Council of Ministers.

At the time of the inauguration of the Meloni Government, the number of pending infringement proceedings was 83, compared with a European average of 73. Since then, 11 have been closed, while a further 10 have been opened in relation to situations of non-compliance. Today, therefore, there are 82 infringement procedures pending against Italy, compared with a European average of 66.

The decree law, based on Article 37 of Law 234/12, is a measure which Italy has not used for a long time to prevent and facilitate the systematic closure of infringement cases.

During these months, through constant and constructive discussions with the European Commission and with the individual ministries, it has been possible to prepare the decree-law, approved yesterday, which will facilitate the closure of 8 infringement procedures and prevent the opening, by next september, of 12 new infringement procedures. In some cases, the rules introduced are able to immediately remedy an infringement which the Commission will close after the necessary assessment; in other cases, the rules now adopted by the Government constitute an essential premise for achieving, downstream of further regulatory and administrative work on which the Government is already engaged, the closure of the dispute.

The adoption of the rules contained in the decree law will in many cases make it possible to avoid incurring heavy fines on the state budget.