The Ecofin Council believes that the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the budgetary instrument financing the EU’s post-Covid-19 national recovery plans, is making “a positive contribution” to Member States’ climate and digital transitions.
The council recognises the “innovative nature” of this results-based spending instrument, as highlighted by the European Commission in its mid-term report on the implementation of the RRF (see EUROPE 13356/17). It invites the Commission to learn from this experience with a view to creating new instruments in the future.
Administrative burden. Noting the “significant administrative burden” related to the RRF, the Member States call on the Commission to “identify concrete ways to streamline the reporting process, avoid duplication and reduce the administrative work related to the implementation of the instrument”, while ensuring adequate protection of the Union’s financial interests.
These will not be “radical” measures, said Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, evoking an increased focus on results rather than on the formulation of objectives, as well as a simplification of procedures for amending national plans.
Asked about the possibility of extending the RRF beyond 2026, Belgian Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem stuck to the Ecofin Council’s conclusions that investments and reforms should be finalised “by August 2026”.
Italy would like to have more time to use up the financial windfall it has been granted, but any changes affecting the Commission’s ability to borrow on the markets to finance the RRF will require the unanimous agreement of the Member States.
See the conclusions of the Ecofin Council: https://aeur.eu/f/br2 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)