Loans available through the Next Generation EU recovery plan, but not called upon by Member States, should be redistributed to other EU countries that have reached the limit of their national allocation (ceiling set at 6.8% of national GNI), notably to finance investments identified in the REPowerEU strategy that will help reduce the European Union’s dependence on Russian hydrocarbons, say the European Parliament’s Committees on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and Budgets (BUDG) in a draft report adopted on Monday 30 May.
“More than €200 billion in loans are still available under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. As Europe continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and is now confronted with the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, we call on Member States to make full use of the RRF’s potential”, said Siegfried Mureşan (EPP, Romania), co-rapporteur of the draft opinion, in a statement.
To date, €225 billion of loans remain available and only three countries - Italy, Greece and Romania - have mobilised all the loans allocated to them in September 2020 (see EUROPE 12960/9). The European Commission wants to give Member States 30 days after the revision of the Regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the budgetary instrument of Next Generation EU, to express their interest in the loans they are eligible for. Otherwise, the unused financial means would be available for other Member States.
These additional loans could be used to “mitigate the economic, social and energy consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the European Union and the side-effects of EU restrictive measures against Russia and Belarus”, say MEPs. Investments to facilitate the reception and integration of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine should also be included.
MEPs recall that respect for the rule of law and fundamental European values, in particular judicial independence and the fight against fraud, is a prerequisite for the approval of the Polish and Hungarian plans.
With the Polish Parliament having legislated to bring the country’s justice system more in line with EU jurisprudence, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen may travel to Warsaw on Thursday 2 June to convey the Commission’s positive assessment of the Polish plan (see other news).
Furthermore, MEPs believe that the experience gained in the implementation of the European recovery plan can inspire the European legislator in the context of the future reform of the European economic governance framework. An example would be the signing of a contract that makes EU financial assistance conditional on investment and reform.
The two parliamentary committees warn against the risk of ‘greenwashing’ in the implementation of national recovery plans and stress the importance of greater involvement from local and regional authorities.
This draft own-initiative report comes ahead of the Commission’s adoption of its report on the mid-term implementation of the European recovery plan by the end of July. It will be adopted at the mini-plenary session at the end of June in Brussels.
See the compromise amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/1ux (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)