02/05/2024 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 30 April, Germany asked the European Commission to add a €2.3 billion ‘REPowerEU’ chapter to its national recovery and resilience plan. Berlin could thus benefit from increased funding to accelerate its energy transition and reduce its dependence on Russian hydrocarbons, under the ‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’ (RRF), the financial instrument of the European Recovery Plan, ‘Next Generation EU’ (see EUROPE 13356/17). Germany has also asked to modify certain objectives in its national plan. “The proposed changes are linked to objective circumstances that impact the feasibility of carrying out the relevant measures”, explained the Commission in a press release on Thursday 2 May. The Commission now has 2 months to assess whether the amended plan still meets the assessment criteria of the RRF regulation. (BD)