A costly 32 seconds. This is how much the city needed to receive a multi-million subsidy

This was a very costly mistake by city officials. The city authorities of Vincenza were 32 seconds late in submitting an application for EU funds and will therefore not receive a subsidy of EUR 10 million. How did this happen? The court thoroughly examined the case and issued a clear verdict.

32 seconds worth EUR 10 million

The Italian administrative court agreed with the position of the Ministry of Agriculture and the national agency for investment and enterprise development, which did not accept the application from the city of Vicenza. After the national authorities rejected the application, a legal battle for seconds began. As required, documentation regarding EU money had to be submitted by 12:00 on November 30 last year. Unfortunately, the city management was late… 32 seconds.

The Vicenza authorities argued that the Ministry of Agriculture and the agency operating at the Ministry of Finance only provided the hour and minute of the deadline for submitting the application, but did not provide the second. However, the court did not agree with the arguments of the city authorities. “Minute zero of a given hour strikes the 59th minute of the previous hour at the last second,” the judges explained in the judgment. However, the Vicenza authorities do not intend to give up their weapons and announce that they will appeal against the court verdict.

As part of the EU’s Recovery Plan, Italy will receive over EUR 191 billion. This represents nearly 11 percent of Italy’s GDP. The Italians quickly completed the so-called milestones and the first money into their account began to flow in 2021. So far, they have received nearly EUR 70 billion under the EU support program.

Poland and the KPO blockade

The European Commission made funds from the National Reconstruction Plan for Poland conditional on the introduction of milestones. Even though more than a year has passed, Poland has still not implemented them and the funds from the KPO are still frozen. A victory for the opposition may mean the achievement of milestones, which in turn would unlock a stream of money from the European Union. The National Reconstruction Plan is an investment plan for Poland – prepared by the government and approved by the European Commission. This is part of a huge EUR 806.90 billion plan to rebuild the EU economy after the coronavirus pandemic. Poland received EUR 35.40 billion, mostly in the form of subsidies. Donald Tusk announced that he will go to Brussels on Wednesday, where he will talk about unblocking these funds.