Upstream and downstream implementation arrangements in two‐level games. A focus on administrative simplification in the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan

Bibliographic Data

ID7998380
AuthorsFabrizio Di Mascio (0000-0001-6165-6335, University of Turin), Alessandro Natalini (0000-0002-6455-3953, Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta), Stefania Profeti (0000-0002-9418-2743, University of Bologna, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume42
Issue2
Pages212-233
Publication date2024-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReview of Policy Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1541-132X • E-ISSN: 1541-1338
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ropr.12594
OpenAlexW4390541635
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited36

The onset of the European NGEU program represented for European member states a formidable opportunity for post‐pandemic recovery and yet a significant challenge at the same time: to receive and retain EU funds, each state had to promptly draw up a National Recovery and Resilience Plan—NRRP) and commit to a pressing timetable for its implementation. Regarding this challenge, the Italian government's response is a case in point: first, Italy is by far the largest beneficiary of NGEU funds; second, it has long had a reputation for being laggard in both the implementation of European directives and the spending of cohesion policy structural funds; and the formulation of the NRRP, the design of the governance in charge of its implementation, and implementation itself, occurred at a particular moment in the country's political life. Based on these premises, the article examines the upstream process by which the Italian government designed the implementation arrangements for the adoption of simplification policies under the NRRP and their downstream recalibration in the first two years, taking the implementation arrangements as the dependent variable. Analytically, the focus is on the interplay between the pressures of EU timetables and internal political dynamics, be they the legacy or strategic political considerations on the part of national policymakers, in determining the design and eventual re‐design of implementation arrangements as the plan unfolds

Beneficiary · Business · Cohesion (chemistry · Corporate governance · Downstream (manufacturing · Economic policy · Economics · European integration · European union · Government (linguistics · Intergovernmentalism · Operations management · Political science · Politics · Resilience (materials science · Upstream (networking · Engineering · European Union Policy and Governance · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Finance

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