Although the European Commission has already recommended the approval of half of the national recovery plans, the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament is keeping up the pressure on the EU institution to enforce the letter and spirit of the regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the budgetary instrument at the heart of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan.
The Commission’s work on evaluating national plans is “broadly going in the right direction”, noted Spanish MEP Ernest Urtasun on Thursday 1 July in front of a few journalists. However, he argued that there was a “risk of ‘greenwashing’” and of violating the cross-cutting ‘do no harm’ principle, echoing a letter from the political group to the Commission in early June (see EUROPE 12732/5). He mentioned problematic coal projects in Spain and projects to improve the energy efficiency of fossil fuel based heating systems in Croatia.
For Damian Boeselager from Germany, many of the country-specific, socio-economic policy recommendations have not been incorporated into the national plans. He cited the case of pension reform in Germany, Belgium, and France; the issue of tax planning in Luxembourg; and competition in the services sector in Spain.
His compatriot Alexandra Geese felt that the recovery plans lacked precision in identifying measures for gender equality and the financial means to implement them. 80% of the money will be used to create male-dominated industrial jobs, she noted.
Mr Boeselager said he did not expect any surprises in the assessment of the national plans in the EU Council, once the recommendation was presented by the Commission. He said the EU Council’s role would be enhanced when it periodically approves the disbursement of financial assistance tranches based on compliance with the milestones set out in the recovery plans.
The continued pressure on the Commission is aimed at preventing “differences in treatment” between Member States, said Mr Boeselager. According to him, significant changes have been made to the Italian and Spanish plans, while the German plan has undergone few changes.
On Tuesday 13 July, the Ecofin Council is expected to give final approval to a dozen national plans, a necessary step before the first instalments of EU financial aid are paid out.
More information on the plans whose analysis is finalised: https://bit.ly/3gG3k0D (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)