The Italian Court of Auditors has delivered a measured verdict on the nation's Recovery and Resilience Plan: the program is advancing steadily but failing to make up for accumulated delays, especially in the construction of public infrastructure critical to reducing regional disparities.
Why This Matters
• €24.2 billion in spending (roughly 40% of affected measures) will now slip past the original 2026 deadline, extending into 2027.
• Italy has collected 166 billion euros from Brussels—85% of its total allocation—making it the top absolute recipient in Europe.
• Public works absorb 44% of funding but show only 37% payment rates and a mere 10% project completion rate.
• Reforms are outpacing infrastructure: milestone achievement sits at 87%, while physical investment targets lag at 56%.
Record on Paper, Lag on Ground
The Italy Court of Auditors' latest semi-annual report to Parliament confirms that all 50 European milestones due in the second half of 2025 were met on schedule, lifting the overall completion rate to 72%—an 8-percentage-point gain in six months. Reforms alone have hit 85% completion, with notable wins in public procurement (cutting contract-signing times by 26.5%, exceeding targets) and a 10.9% drop in the tax-evasion propensity for 2022–2023 versus 2019. The entire first-instance criminal-court workflow is now digital, and the annual pro-competition law has entered force.
Yet the Court's language on infrastructure is deliberately cautious: works are "advancing without further slowdowns" but "not recovering the delays already accumulated." Translation for residents: nurseries, community health centers, school buildings, and urban renewal projects—the very measures designed to narrow the gap between prosperous northern cities and struggling inland areas—remain behind schedule. As of February 2026, actual spending reached 113.5 billion euros (58% of total plan resources), a sharp acceleration from the 83 billion euros disbursed by August 2025. But converting euros received from Brussels into completed roads, renovated schools, and functioning clinics is proving harder than signing reform decrees.
Where the Money Is Going—and Where It Isn't
Investment targets span six missions, with green transition and sustainable mobility accounting for the lion's share of slippage risk. The Court's preliminary estimates, drawn from central-government ministries, identify 66 measures whose spending will spill past 2026, with nearly half the delayed outlay expected in 2027. The missions most exposed are sustainable-mobility infrastructure, the REPowerEU energy-security package, and the green-revolution portfolio. Much of the at-risk funding comprises financial instruments and production-unit incentives rather than turnkey construction, offering a technical cushion: these programs can absorb delays without forfeiting European funds, provided national co-financing continues.
On the ground, the picture varies sharply by geography and sector. Southern municipalities are processing public-works approvals faster than the national average, an unexpected reversal of decades-old administrative weakness. The northern regions, traditionally more efficient, now show longer decision timelines—possibly a sign that local governments there face tighter labor markets and higher construction costs. Nationwide, however, only 10% of public-works projects are finished, even though contracts have been signed and payments initiated for many more.
What This Means for Residents
For anyone living in Italy, the gap between policy achievement and tangible service delivery defines the Recovery Plan's real-world impact. If you are a parent waiting for a new nursery place, a patient hoping for a renovated health clinic, or a commuter expecting an upgraded train line, the Court's assessment is sobering: bureaucratic milestones are met, but the bricks, mortar, and rail are lagging.
The 24.2 billion euros in delayed spending will not disappear; it will simply arrive later, extending the timeline for infrastructure improvements and raising questions about long-term maintenance costs. Independent estimates suggest that operating and maintaining the new hospitals, student housing, digital school equipment, and energy-retrofit buildings will require between 15.5 and 19 billion euros annually once they are up and running—a burden that will fall heavily on municipal and regional budgets already stretched thin.
For businesses and investors, the picture is brighter. The Court highlights progress in industrial-property protection, women's entrepreneurship, innovation agreements, and targeted support for agriculture and tourism. Digital transformation is moving fastest, with 34 investment targets hit in the latest reporting period, especially in e-government platforms and broadband rollout.
Homeowners and landlords who participated in the Ecobonus energy-retrofit scheme will note that, as of late October 2025, the national energy-efficiency database (ENEA) had logged 501,348 interventions worth a combined 122.8 billion euros. This figure far exceeds the official Recovery Plan allocation, because the subsidy program predates the EU package and draws on separate national funds—a reminder that the headline "194.4 billion euro plan" includes both Brussels money and pre-existing Italian incentives.
Administrative Bright Spots
Not everything is behind schedule. The administrative-justice system has exceeded its backlog-reduction targets: 84.9% clearance in regional administrative courts (TAR) and 87.2% in the Council of State. Employment centers, student housing, digital teaching tools, hospital IT systems, the national electronic health record, and specialist medical training have all logged measurable advances.
The public-procurement reform deserves special mention. By shaving 26.5% off the average time between bid receipt and contract signature, Italy has addressed one of the chronic bottlenecks that foreign investors and local contractors alike have complained about for years. Whether this improvement proves durable beyond the Recovery Plan's 2026 deadline will depend on whether hiring freezes and training cutbacks in the civil service are reversed—a question the Court flags but does not answer.
Europe's Report Card
Compared with other large European recipients, Italy ranks among the leaders in milestone completion and funds drawn down. As of spring 2026, the country had hit 72% of its agreed targets, well above the 28% average for member states with plans exceeding 5 billion euros. France has received a slightly higher percentage of its allocation (around 85% versus Italy's 85% at the same date, depending on the reporting cutoff), but Italy's absolute quantum—166 billion euros disbursed—remains the continent's largest.
The weak spot is actual expenditure: converting received tranches into paid invoices. By the end of 2023, only 43 billion euros (22% of the total) had been spent in real terms; strip out pre-existing tax credits like the Superbonus, and the figure fell to 15 billion euros. The gap has since narrowed—113.5 billion euros spent by February 2026—but it underscores the difference between hitting a bureaucratic checkpoint (a milestone) and delivering a finished hospital wing (a target).
The 2027 Question
With roughly 40% of certain measures now expected to complete in 2027, the Recovery Plan is effectively extending into a seventh year. The European Commission has shown flexibility on timelines, especially for financial instruments and co-financed projects, but the political and fiscal implications for Italy are significant. The national budget must bridge the gap if Brussels payments taper, and municipalities will inherit operating costs for new facilities without guaranteed central transfers.
The Court of Auditors does not frame the 2027 overhang as a failure; rather, it is an "absorber" that prevents a sudden spending cliff in 2026 and smooths the transition back to ordinary public investment. Whether that optimistic reading holds depends on the government's willingness to allocate national funds for maintenance and whether the productivity gains from digitalization, justice reform, and procurement overhaul prove lasting.
For now, the verdict is clear: Italy is meeting its formal commitments to Brussels and has accelerated reform implementation faster than most observers expected. But the physical transformation of schools, hospitals, transport links, and public housing—the changes residents can see and use—remains a work in progress, with significant portions deferred beyond the original deadline. The administrative machinery is running; the construction sites are still catching up.
