The European Commission’s review report of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the “centrepiece of the Next Generation EU”, concludes that, 18 months after its introduction, significant progress has been made in implementing the Facility.
“The steady implementation of recovery and resilience plans has already allowed for the disbursement of about 20% of the RRF funds”, the report, published on 29 July, said. The amount of €112.4 billion has already been paid out.
In addition, “Member States’ ambitious reform and investment agenda is on track”, supporting the acceleration of Europe’s green and digital transitions, the Commission says.
According to the report, all plans exceed the 37% climate target, with some Member States using more than half of their allocation to support climate targets. “Overall, climate expenditure amounts to about 40% and digital expenditure to about 26% (the target was 20%, editor’s note)”, the Commission said in its statement. Germany and Austria intend to invest around 53% of their total maximum allocation in digital targets.
The Facility was established in February 2021 to promote the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the Union and to provide financial support to Member States in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/2rk
In addition, the European Commission approved, on 29 July, the positive preliminary assessment of Latvia’s €201 million payment request. On 17 June 2022, Riga submitted a payment claim to the Commission based on the completion of the nine milestones identified in the EU Council Implementing Decision for the first instalment, which include the minimum income support system, digital, public procurement, education, prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, and social.
Furthermore, the Commission made, on 29 July, a second payment of €12 billion to Spain and a first payment of €398.7 million to Slovakia under the Facility. The Commission had approved the preliminary assessments on 27 June (see EUROPE 12980/24). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)