The European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, estimated on Monday 16 May that some Member States would modify their national recovery plans, as part of the framework of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan, in the light of the reallocation, “by the end of June”, of 30% of the envelope distributed in the form of grants.
The regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility provides that 30% of the budgetary instrument at the heart of Next Generation EU (in total,€672.5 billion, of which €312.5 billion is grants and €360 billion is loans) must be distributed before the end of June 2022 in order to be committed in 2023. The criteria to be used to allocate these funds include, at the request of the Central and Eastern European countries, the fall in national GDP in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as its cumulative fall over 2020-2021 (see EUROPE 12562/12).
According to Mr Gentiloni, countries whose grant aid will be “substantially higher or lower” will want to change their national plans.
On Wednesday, the European Commission will also invite member states to add to their respective recovery plans chapters dedicated to the objectives of the REPowerEU strategy to accelerate the EU’s climate transition and reduce dependence on Russian hydrocarbons, including measures related to energy security, energy prices and supply chains (see EUROPE 12951/3).
In addition, Member States have until August 2023 to call in the loans they are entitled to under the European Recovery Plan. Spain is considering it, according to Mr Gentiloni.
At this stage, more than 200 billion out of a total of 360 billion in loans are still available. This is one of the reasons why several countries, such as the Netherlands and Ireland, are calling for the agreed financial means to be used up first before considering new European financial instruments to meet the many challenges facing the EU. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)