The European Commission welcomed the official submission of national recovery plans by Germany and Greece on Wednesday 28 April.
The Greek plan focuses on strategic areas for the country’s future, such as ecological and digital transitions, jobs and skills, private investment and reforms, welcomed its President, Ursula von der Leyen, in a statement. Once the plan is approved, Athens is expected to receive up to €30.5 billion in financial aid from the EU.
Our ‘Greece 2.0’ recovery plan includes 106 investment projects and 67 reforms, noted State Secretary for Finance Theodoros Skylakakis, reported in the Greek press.
On Wednesday, the Commission was also due to receive the German, Spanish, French, and Italian recovery plans (see EUROPE 12707/17). However, at the time of going to press, only the German plan had been received.
To demonstrate unity of action, the Finance Ministers of the four largest euro-area economies jointly communicated their national plans.
The transmission of the Italian plan will take place by the end of the week, said Daniele Franco, the Italian minister, before describing the main elements (see EUROPE 12706/13). Italy’s goal is to increase the share of renewable energy to “72%” of the energy mix by 2030 and to make broadband internet widely available by 2026, he said.
After Italy, Spain will be the second largest beneficiary of financial support under Next Generation EU.
The Spanish minister, Nadia Calviño, said that the Spanish plan will mobilise €140 billion of public investment between now and 2026 and will stimulate reforms to ensure that Spain is “one of the engines of European economic recovery”. Almost 40% of the budget will go to the ecological transition, 30% to the digital transition, 10% to social policy, and 7% to research and development, she said.
According to European legislation, the EU27 must submit their national plans by the end of April. The Commission then has a maximum of 2 months to assess them and recommend their adoption to the EU Council, which then has 1 month.
Some countries will transmit their plans in several weeks
Speaking at a web conference of the European Policy Centre, the head of the Commission’s working group analysing the national reform plans, Céline Gauer, said that most Member States would soon be presenting their national plans. Some countries would only do so in “a few weeks, or even longer, because of the internal political situation”, she also acknowledged.
Asked about the timetable for assessing the national plans, Ms Gauer said that the two-month deadline, which some countries consider too long, was already a “crazy” challenge, recalling that the Commission had initially wanted a four-month deadline.
On the composition of the (draft) national plans, the EU official praised their “strong social dimension”, estimating the level of social spending, such as investment in health infrastructure and childcare, at “30%” on average. We are developing a methodology to track social spending, she indicated. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)