ROME: The Italian government approved a decree on Friday setting out how it will oversee investments funded by the EU and accelerating procedures for public works, a key step in unlocking the EU funds.
The reforms were promised to the European Commission to get a green light for Rome’s Recovery Plan and obtain a first tranche by August of the €205 billion ($250 billion) in grants and cheap loans it is due to receive from Brussels.
The decree, which was the subject of tense negotiations with trade unions, will now be sent to the Commission for approval.
Italy, which presented its recovery plan last month, is the biggest beneficiary of the €750 billion kitty set up to help the bloc’s 27 countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
DUBAI: US filmmaker Wes Anderson’s critically lauded “The French Dispatch,” starring French-Algerian actress Lyna Khoudri, is up for the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival, it’s been announced. The film will be competing against “Annette,” a musical film by French director Leos Carax that stars Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver, and Dutch filmmaker
The Iraqi state has once again proved its impotence in the face of Tehran-backed paramilitaries. The Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi militia confederation went on the rampage last week after a powerful militia leader, Qassim Muslih, was detained on charges of plotting assassinations and murdering protesters. Militant leaders denounced the arrest as a “kidnapping” as if Iraq’s security
A summer of sporting risk and uncertainty begins next week with the European football championships (Euro 2020), the world’s third-biggest sporting event, followed by the Tokyo Olympics in July which the Japanese government insists will take place despite growing public opposition. While hosting such major events enhances national prestige, both were postponed for a year