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BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission said on Tuesday it had given a positive, preliminary assessment to Italy’s latest request for aid payments from the European Union, seen as key to boosting the sluggish performance of the euro zone’s third largest economy.
“Today, the Commission has endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of Italy’s sixth payment under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU, for 8.7 billion euros ($9.10 billion),” it said.
Italy is due to receive 194.4 billion euros in cheap loans and grants from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) by 2026, more than any other state in absolute terms.
The next payment to Italy will be made once the European Commission sends this initial, positive assessment of Italy’s request to the EU’s Economic and Financial Council (EFC), and once that body and the European Commission give the final approval for payment.
($1 = 0.9556 euros)
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta)