Ursula von der Leyen flew to Rome to personally approve Italy's EU COVID recovery fund money.
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Verdict explanation
claim // 0b1c26fe-6d9b-467b-9ba2-d986c0f4ca05
Reasoning
The claim's core event is real: on 22 June 2021, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen travelled to Rome and, at a joint press conference with Italian PM Mario Draghi, announced the Commission's formal approval of Italy's pandemic recovery plan.12
The Commission's own page confirms "Commission president Ursula von der Leyen presents the Commission's assessment of the original plan to former Prime Minister Draghi in Rome on 22 June 2021."3
The amount was the EU's largest allocation: €191.5 billion (€68.9bn grants + €122.6bn loans) under NextGenerationEU.412
She was on a multi-city tour that day (Rome, Berlin, Riga) to launch the recovery fund, so Rome was one stop on that tour rather than a single-purpose trip.52
Minor nuance: the endorsement was formally a decision of the College of Commissioners (with final Council sign-off in July 2021), so "personally approve" slightly overstates her individual role — but the trip, the approval, and her role in announcing it are all accurate.31