The Council of the European Union has approved the revision of the post-Covid-19 recovery plans of six Member States: “Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden”, said the Cypriot Finance Minister, Mákis Keravnós, on Tuesday 20 January, at the end of the first Ecofin Council under the Cyprus Presidency.
The European Commissioner for Economy, Valdis Dombrovkis, pointed out that 2026 is a “decisive” year, with all the national recovery plans having to be finalised by the end of August at the latest.
For several months now, the European Commission has been urging the Member States to speed up the implementation of the investments and reforms (milestones) set out in these plans, and to identify the measures that cannot be implemented within the allotted timeframe. According to Mr Dombrovskis, the Member States must be “realistic” in their analysis of the investments that can be completed, based on the state of progress of current projects.
With the revision of the plans adopted on Tuesday, “24 Member States” have simplified or rationalised their recovery plans, reducing them by an average of 20% of the milestones initially planned, noted the European Commissioner, in response to a question from Agence Europe. He also reported on discussions with Member States to prioritise the absorption of the ‘grants’ part of the funding received from the EU, the ‘loans’ part having been reduced by “€74 billion” out of a total loan envelope of €278 billion.
See Tuesday’s revised draft plans and their appendices: https://aeur.eu/f/kb6 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)