(ANSA) – ROME, MAY 20 – Giuseppe Busìa, the president of Italian anti-corruption agency ANAC, said in his annual report to parliament on Tuesday that the State’s credibility was being weakened by cases of conflict of interest.
“There continue to be too many cases of conflicts of interest, both small and large, but all capable of undermining the credibility of the institutions,” Busìa said.
He said the government’s scrapping of the crime of abuse of office had not been compensated by administrative measures to stop this from leaving a “protection vacuum”. “There has been a gradual weakening of the administrative guarantees in place to protect the independence and fairness of public action,” Busìa said.
He also sounded the alarm about the number of public contracts being awarded directly to private companies without a tender system.
He said around 98% of public contracts for services and supplies were awarded directly in 2024, and the number worth between 135,000 and 140,000 euros, so just below the threshold above which a tender process is required, had tripled since 2021, when the value-limit was 75,000 euros.
Busìa also expressed concern about Italy being behind on spending close to 200 billion euros of EU grants and low-interest loans allocated to its National Resilience and Recovery Plan (NRRP) before the deadline of June 2026.
“The NRRP deadline is looming,” he said.
“Despite the acceleration of recent months, the trend for expenditure is worrying.
“In some sectors it is still below 30% of the resources allocated, according to data from the Audit Court”. (ANSA).
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“There continue to be too many cases of conflicts of interest, both small and large, but all capable of undermining the credibility of the institutions,” Busìa said.
He said the government’s scrapping of the crime of abuse of office had not been compensated by administrative measures to stop this from leaving a “protection vacuum”. “There has been a gradual weakening of the administrative guarantees in place to protect the independence and fairness of public action,” Busìa said.
He also sounded the alarm about the number of public contracts being awarded directly to private companies without a tender system.
He said around 98% of public contracts for services and supplies were awarded directly in 2024, and the number worth between 135,000 and 140,000 euros, so just below the threshold above which a tender process is required, had tripled since 2021, when the value-limit was 75,000 euros.
Busìa also expressed concern about Italy being behind on spending close to 200 billion euros of EU grants and low-interest loans allocated to its National Resilience and Recovery Plan (NRRP) before the deadline of June 2026.
“The NRRP deadline is looming,” he said.
“Despite the acceleration of recent months, the trend for expenditure is worrying.
“In some sectors it is still below 30% of the resources allocated, according to data from the Audit Court”. (ANSA).
Read article…
