The European Commission is expected to recommend, next week, the adoption of the national recovery plans of five Member States - Portugal, Spain, Greece, Denmark and Luxembourg - as part of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan (see EUROPE 12736/2).
Subject to the finalisation of the evaluation of these plans and the adoption of the recommendation by the College, its President, Ursula von der Leyen, will visit Lisbon and Madrid on Wednesday 16 June, Athens and Copenhagen on 17 June and Luxembourg on 18 June to present the results of these evaluations in person to the authorities of these countries.
In order to underline the political importance of this progression, Ms von der Leyen will try to visit all 27 capitals to highlight the link between national plans and European added value and visit projects that will be supported by EU financial aid.
“The Commission is really in the last miles of the assessment for these countries” and wants a “quick and smooth” adoption of the national plans, said Dana Spinant, deputy spokesperson of the European institution, on Friday 11 June.
After the Commission presents its recommendation, the EU Council will have one month to formally adopt a recovery plan. On Friday 18 June, EU Finance Ministers will take stock of the procedure for assessing recovery plans.
All Member States except Malta, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Estonia have formally transmitted their national plans to the European level, although the indicative deadline for doing so was the end of April. Five countries - Slovenia, Poland, Sweden, Croatia and Romania - have asked for a three month period (instead of two) to evaluate their plans.
The Commission denied allegations that it had rejected the Romanian plan.
On Friday, employers’ organisation BusinessEurope unveiled its analysis of national recovery plans. According to the organisation, these plans should focus more on investments that boost the long-term competitiveness of companies, especially in research and innovation, and on growth-enhancing reforms.
See BusinessEurope’s analysis: https://bit.ly/3iynMTG (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)