(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 28 - The European Union has acknowledged the Italian government's commitment to modernising Italy, Premier Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday after the European Commission gave the green light to the fourth tranche of payment for Italy's revised post-Covid National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) on Tuesday.
    "The Commission's positive assessment demonstrates the great progress made by Italy and, just a few days after its approval of the general revision of the NRRP, confirms the great commitment of the government to fully implementing the plan to make the country more modern and more competitive," said Meloni in a social media video.
    On Tuesday the European executive approved Rome's request for a further 16.5 billion euros in subsidies and low interest loans under the NextGenerationEU programme established by the European Union to help member states recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, with resources to be deployed in the period 2021-2026 period.
    "The Commission today approved Italy's fourth payment request, for 16.5 billion euro, confirming that Italy has met all 28 objectives and targets set," said Meloni.
    "The payment is expected by the end of this year, when Italy will have received about 102 billion euro, so more than half of the NRRP," she added.
    "Italy will also be the only EU Member State to have received the payment of the fourth installment," concluded the premier.
    Meanwhile sources said the government is drafting an implementing decree for Italy's revised plan now worth 194.4 billion euro, which was signed off by Brussels on Friday.
    The modified NRRP now covers 66 reforms - seven more than the original plan - 150 investments and 145 new or modified measures, including the interventions set out under the new REPowerEU chapter to reduce dependency on Russian fossil fuels.
    The implementing decree is to include a provision on the time-frame in order to hold all implementing bodies to account in the event that they fail to meet the deadlines, the sources added.
    Separately on Tuesday Meloni told labour unions summoned to Palazzo Chigi to discuss the 2024 budget that the government is doing everything possible to ensure that the revised European Stability and Growth Pact under negotiation in Brussels is sustainable and oriented towards growth.
    "It would be nice to be able to make the cut in the tax wedge structural," said Meloni of the reduction in income tax for low wage earners contained in the budget bill currently before parliament.
    "However, it is difficult in this precise context when we still do not know the budget rules for the coming years," she added.
    "I think it can be acknowledged that the government is trying hard to reach a new Stability and Growth Pact that is sustainable and oriented more towards growth than stability," said the premier.
    The European Union is in the process of thrashing out the new fiscal rules to be applied across all member states.
    Italy has been dragging its heels amid concerns that the budgetary policy set out in the Pact is too strict and does not allow sufficient room for structural investments and growth.
    (ANSA).