EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 10.10.2024

COM(2024) 474 final

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Contents

Acronyms

Executive summary

1. State of play on implementation of RRF

A. Payment requests and disbursements

The pace of disbursement has increased following the revisions of RRPs

The suspension procedure has increasingly been used, which facilitates swifter disbursements

The Commission has continued to issue EU-Bonds to finance the RRF

An increasing number of measures are eligible for financing under NextGenerationEU Green Bonds

Macroeconomic conditionality and the RRF

B. Revision of RRPs

Updated RRPs remain ambitious following the revisions undertaken in 2023 and 2024

The total financial envelope and RRF contribution to each six policy pillars has changed following RRP revisions

Payment profiles have evolved following the revisions of RRPs

The RRF climate and digital targets continue to be met by revised RRPs

Revised RRPs contribute to social policies and gender equality across the EU

C. Final recipients under the RRF

All Member States publish data on the 100 largest final recipients

The largest final recipients receive funding for investments across all six RRF policy pillars

D. Controls and audit in the implementation of the RRF

The Commission has continued to protect the financial interests of the Union

The RRF remains under close scrutiny by the European Court of Auditors

E. Communication and dialogues in 2023-2024

The European Parliament, the Council, and Member States remain continuously involved in the implementation of the RRF

The visibility of the EU in the implementation of RRPs could be further enhanced

The interactive map provides a visual overview of projects supported by the RRF

Member States continue to hold RRF annual events

The Commission undertakes additional relevant communication activities

F. Key findings from the mid-term evaluation of the RRF

Its mid-term evaluation showed that the RRF has supported the recovery and brought innovation in EU spending

The evaluation includes useful considerations for future performance-based instruments

2. Progress in implementing the Recovery and Resilience Facility

A. Common indicators

The RRF has achieved significant real outcomes on the ground

B. Bi-annual reporting data

Most milestones and targets are reported to be implemented in accordance with the RRPs timelines

C. Progress across the six policy pillars

Member States have made visible implementation progress across all six RRF policy pillars

D. Policies to improve competitiveness of EU businesses

RRPs contribute to improved competitiveness of EU businesses, with about three million enterprises having already benefitted from RRF support.

3. REPowerEU

A. Overview of measures across the REPowerEU chapters

The additional REPowerEU reforms and investments address bottlenecks, help accelerating the clean energy transition and strengthening the security of energy supply.

B. Overview of measures having a cross-border or multi-country dimension included in all REPowerEU chapters

REPowerEU measures boast a strong cross-border or multi-country dimension.

4. Conclusion

Acronyms

BAR	Brexit Adjustment Reserve
COVID-19	Coronavirus disease of 2019
ECA	European Court of Auditors
ETS	Emissions Trading System
EUR	Euro (€)
RRPs	Recovery and Resilience Plans
RRF	Recovery and Resilience Facility
MWh	Megawatt hour
SMEs	Small and medium-sized enterprises
STEP	Strategic Technologies in Europe Platform

Executive summary

The Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF’) is the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU, Europe’s recovery plan to emerge stronger and more resilient from the unprecedented economic and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unprecedented in both scale and ambition, the RRF was set up in 2021 1 as an innovative and performance-based instrument, providing financial support to Member States against the implementation of a combination of pre-agreed reforms and investments. The RRF is time-bound until 2026.

Over time, the RRF adapted to new challenges and provided crucial support to Member States in the wake of Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, and the ensuing energy crisis. With REPowerEU, Member States could benefit from additional resources to boost reforms and investments that diversify the EU’s energy supplies, accelerate the green transition, and support vulnerable households.

In the three and a half years since the entry into force of the RRF Regulation, Member States have made use of the Facility to advance their reform and investment agendas, in line with common EU priorities, and tackle both long-standing and new challenges, as part of their recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

After some delays in 2023 largely linked to the need to adopt REPowerEU chapters, implementation and disbursements have accelerated. As of the end of August 2024, EUR 265.4 billion were disbursed to Member States and around 85% of the milestones and targets with an indicative date of completion by the first quarter of 2024 were either assessed as satisfactorily fulfilled by the Commission or reported as completed by Member States. This represents a major catch up compared to 2023 where, as reported in the previous RRF annual report, the Commission had disbursed about 58% of the current total amount (EUR 153.4 billion) by 1 September 2023. If all goes to plan, by the end of the year, the RRF will have disbursed more than EUR 300 billion since the start of the Facility.

The Commission has stepped up its actions to support Member States’ implementation efforts, simplify and reduce administrative burden. On 19 July 2024, the Commission adopted an updated Guidance on RRPs to simplify the implementation of the RRF and improve its effectiveness. The updated guidance takes a special focus on RRP revisions, which will remain relevant to address possible implementation bottlenecks. It provides more clarity on the scope of revisions and the possibility to amend a RRP where a Member State identifies a better alternative to implement a measure in a way that reduces the administrative burden. Furthermore, with the entry into force of the Regulation on the Strategic Technologies in Europe Platform (‘STEP’) 2 (which amended the RRF Regulation), funding from the RRF and other EU funds can now also be allocated to the STEP objectives 3 . This new legal ground for amendment has been reflected in the guidance. The guidance also simplifies reporting requirements for Member States and provides greater clarity regarding the conditions under which support from the RRF and other EU funds can be combined to enhance synergies.

The mid-term evaluation of the RRF confirmed the added value of an instrument which combines reforms with investment and of its performance-based approach. The main strengths of the RRF are its focus on disbursement against progress on the ground and its support to both reforms and investments, often mutually reinforcing, under one instrument. The mid-term evaluation of the RRF, published in February 2024, highlighted the broad support from Member States and other stakeholders for both the performance-based nature of the RRF and the combination of reforms and investments. Paying out on the basis of results achieved, rather than costs incurred, provides predictability and accountability for both Member States and the Commission. Combining reforms and investments in one funding instrument creates synergies between them, incentivises the implementation of key reforms and supports the coherence of national plans. The fast roll-out and swift disbursements show that the RRF has supported Member States in times of crisis, while the unique combination of reforms and investments helps our economies to become better equipped for the future.

The RRF and its REPowerEU component are also playing a key role in helping EU companies reap the benefits of the green and digital transition. By 31 August 2024, more than 2 800 000 companies, mostly small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs’), had benefitted from RRF support. In addition to direct financial support, the RRPs have also contributed to the implementation of significant reforms to improve the business environment across Member States, for example in the areas of digitalisation of businesses, facilitating permitting procedures, and up- and reskilling of the labour force.

In view of the time-bound nature of the RRF, all efforts should remain focused on the full and timely implementation of the RRPs by 2026. Whilst implementation and disbursements have been accelerating, progress varies across Member States. A few Member States have already submitted four or more payment requests, whereas a few others have yet to submit any. In some cases, delays and major challenges to absorb funds by end-2026 persist. All Member States need to continue their efforts to implement their respective RRP in full before the end of 2026, when the Facility is due to expire. Where relevant, RRPs can still be revised to address possible implementation bottlenecks and cater for emerging and evolving challenges. The Commission stands ready to continue supporting Member States.

This report is the third in a series of yearly publications on the implementation of the RRF, as required under Article 31 of the RRF Regulation. It presents the state of play regarding disbursements, revisions of RRPs, audit and control-related developments, and communication activities amongst others (section 1); the progress in the implementation of milestones and targets across the RRF policy pillars (section 2); and an overview of the measures included in the Member States’ REPowerEU chapters (section 3) 4 . In annex I, country fiches outline the progress made in each Member State, whilst additional annexes focus on specific concepts relevant for the implementation of the RRF. The information provided in this report is based on the content of the RRPs as of 31 August 2024; on the data reported by Member States until April 2024 as part of their bi-annual reporting obligations; and on developments in the implementation of the Facility until 31 August 2024, unless otherwise specified.

1.State of play on implementation of RRF

A. Payment requests and disbursements

The pace of disbursement has increased following the revisions of RRPs

By 31 August 2024, over 40% of the available RRF funds had been disbursed to Member States, with the disbursement of grants reaching 48% and loans slightly exceeding 30%. Since the inception of the RRF, the Commission received 63 payment requests from 25 Member States and disbursed EUR 265.4 billion. This figure includes EUR 198.4 billion disbursed in net terms upon the submission of payment requests and satisfactory fulfilment of milestones and targets, EUR 56.6 billion in RRF pre-financing granted to 21 Member States until 31 December 2021, and EUR 10.4 billion of REPowerEU pre-financing disbursed to 21 Member States. EUR 170.8 billion of the total amount disbursed to Member States concern non-repayable support and EUR 94.6 billion concern loans. If the current pace of disbursement is maintained, the Commission expects to have disbursed more than EUR 300 billion by the end of 2024. Table 1 provides an overview of the submission of payment requests by Member States and the corresponding total disbursements by the Commission, covering both non-repayable support and loans, following a positive assessment of the milestones and targets covered by the respective payment request.

Following a slower pace of disbursement in the first half of 2023 as efforts were geared towards the revisions of RRPs, disbursements accelerated as of the second half of the year. Between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024, EUR 112.0 billion were disbursed to Member States. This includes EUR 10.4 billion in REPowerEU pre-financing as well as EUR 60.4 billion in non-repayable support and EUR 41.2 billion in loans disbursed upon the satisfactory fulfilment of 908 milestones and targets assessed in 27 payment requests. In comparison, EUR 40.6 billion were disbursed between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023, with EUR 26.9 billion in non-repayable support and EUR 13.7 billion in loans. The funds were all disbursed upon the satisfactory fulfilment of milestones and targets assessed in 17 payment requests, as no pre-financing were disbursed over that period.

Member States received EUR 10.4 billion in REPowerEU pre-financing in 2023-2024. Member States that modified their RRPs to include a REPowerEU chapter end of 2023 had the possibility to request up to 20% of the additional funding in the form of pre-financing, to finance their REPowerEU measures 5 . 21 Member States requested and received REPowerEU pre-financing (see Table 1). Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland and Luxembourg were not eligible for REPowerEU pre-financing since their REPowerEU chapters were not adopted by the Council by end-2023. The Netherlands and Sweden did not request any REPowerEU pre-financing.

Table 1: State of play on implementation of RRF payment requests, by 31 August 2024

27 plans approved by the Commission and adopted by the Council

21 pre-financing disbursed before 31 December 2021 and excluding REPowerEU pre-financing (EUR 56.6 billion)

▲

21 REPowerEU pre-financing disbursed (EUR 10.4 billion)

●

■

26 Operational Arrangements signed

63 payment requests submitted to the Commission, including loans where relevant

51 payments disbursed upon satisfactory fulfilment of M&Ts (EUR 198.4 billion)

Note: * Ireland did not request any pre-financing. ▲ No pre-financing available as the Council Implementing Decision had not been adopted by 31 December 2021, which was a prerequisite for pre-financing. ● No REPowerEU pre-financing available as the REPowerEU chapter had not been adopted by 31 December 2023, which was a prerequisite for REPowerEU pre-financing. ■ The Netherlands and Sweden did not request any REPowerEU pre-financing.

Source: European Commission

The suspension procedure has increasingly been used, which facilitates swifter disbursements

The possibility for the Commission to partially suspend payments provides flexibility for Member States to receive a disbursement in case they face short implementation delays related to specific milestones or targets. The RRPs link each disbursement amount to a fixed set of milestones and targets. This ensures Member States’ implementation progress but also means that the delay in a single milestone or target can delay an entire payment request. The partial payment methodology provides the needed flexibility to disburse to Member States part of the funds and thus progress the payment request, when a small number of milestones or targets are not yet satisfactorily fulfilled. Pursuant to Article 24(8) of the RRF Regulation, Member States then have six months following the adoption of the Commission decision on the partial suspension of the disbursement to undertake the necessary steps to ensure the satisfactory fulfilment of the remaining milestone(s) or target(s). Following this period, the Commission re-assesses the payment request and either lifts the suspension if the specific milestone(s) or target(s) is (are) assessed as fulfilled, or reduces the Member State’s financial allocation if the milestones or targets remain not satisfactorily fulfilled.

The increased use of partial payments has helped speed up the disbursement of RRF funds. Since publishing the methodology for the determination of partial payment suspension in 2023 6 , the Commission has encountered six cases of payment requests where one or more milestones or targets could not be assessed as satisfactorily fulfilled. Between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024, the Commission assessed that payment requests submitted by Spain 7 , Italy 8 , Portugal 9 , and Romania 10 included one or more milestone or target that could not be assessed as satisfactorily fulfilled. This is additional to the payment already suspended in April 2023 for Lithuania’s first payment request 11 . Furthermore, the preliminary assessment of Belgium’s first payment request 12 considers that one milestone could not be assessed as satisfactorily fulfilled 13 .

In 2024, the Commission both lifted suspensions and permanently reduced RRF support for the first time. In the case of Lithuania, in the six months following the adoption of the suspension decision in April 2023, national authorities took additional policy action and, in October 2023, submitted additional information to the Commission on the suspended milestones. The Commission concluded that one of these two milestones was satisfactorily fulfilled, whilst the second continued to be not satisfactorily fulfilled. Consequently, the Commission partly lifted the suspension and disbursed EUR 14.9 million to Lithuania, in recognition of the progress made. At the same time, the Commission also reduced Lithuania’s financial allocation by EUR 8.7 million, corresponding to the non-fulfilled milestone 14 . Also in the case of Portugal, national authorities took policy action in the six months following the suspension for the third and fourth payments adopted in December 2023. In June 2024, the Commission concluded that the outstanding milestones and target were satisfactorily fulfilled. Accordingly, the Commission fully lifted the previously suspended amount and disbursed EUR 720 million to Portugal 15 . In March 2024, Romania also presented additional justifications to demonstrate that it had undertaken the necessary measures for the satisfactory fulfilment of previously suspended milestones. Based on the information provided, the Commission assessed that one of the two milestones was satisfactorily fulfilled, whilst the second continued to be not satisfactorily fulfilled. The Commission will conclude its assessment after having given Romania the possibility to present its observations within two months from the communication of its conclusions, in line with Article 24(8) of the RRF Regulation. By 31 August 2024, the six-months suspension period where Member States can take the necessary steps to ensure the satisfactory fulfilment of the remaining milestones or targets was ongoing for Spain and Italy.

The Commission has continued to issue EU-Bonds to finance the RRF

In 2024 the Commission continued to raise funds in the markets through a unified funding approach, under which the Commission issues single branded EU-Bonds and allocates the proceeds to a central funding pool from which the EU's different policy programmes are funded. By 31 August 2024, the total amount of EU outstanding bonds stood at EUR 531.4 billion, of which EUR 60.2 billion in the form of NextGenerationEU green bonds. The Commission also continued to issued 3-month and 6-month EU-Bills to meet short-term funding needs. By 31 August 2024 EU Bills outstanding stood at EUR 20.9 billion.

With the proceeds raised from EU-Bond issuances, the Commission was able to continue the smooth funding of Member States’ RRPs. The Commission made all disbursements to Member States under the RRF as soon as they fell due, on average within six working days after their authorisation. No delays were experienced.

In June, the Commission released its funding plan for the second semester of 2024, with a funding target of up to EUR 65 billion of long-term EU-Bonds between July and end-December 2024. The H2 funding plan built on the completion of the EUR 75 billion target for the first semester of 2024, with issuances aiming to mobilise a total funding of up to EUR 140 billion in 2024 (versus a EUR 120 billion funding target in 2023).

Under NextGenerationEU and based on Member States’ requests for funding under the RRF and the funding needs of other EU programmes supported by NextGenerationEU, the Commission expects to raise up to EUR 712 billion through the issuance of EU-Bonds by 2026 (out of a maximum programme envelope of EUR 806.9 billion 16 ). This makes the EU one of the largest issuers of euro-denominated debt in this period.

An increasing number of measures are eligible for financing under NextGenerationEU Green Bonds

In 2020, the Commission announced its intention to fund up to 30% of NextGenerationEU by issuing green bonds. This demonstrates the Commission's commitment to sustainable finance, bringing a new highly rated and liquid green asset to the market, giving access to green investments for a wide range of investors, and strengthening the role of the European Union and of the euro in the sustainable finance markets. The first NextGenerationEU Green Bond was issued in October 2021. Through this 15-year bond, the Commission raised EUR 12 billion, making it the world's largest green bond transaction to date. Since then, the Commission has issued EUR 60.2 billion of NextGenerationEU Green Bonds, with new issuances calibrated to correspond to reported green expenditure from Member States.

National expenditure to implement measures financed by NextGenerationEU Green onds have, by 31 August 2024, related mainly to energy efficiency measures (42.8% of allocated expenditures) and clean transport and infrastructure (33.3%). Clean energy and network was the third biggest category of expenditure with 8.4% of expenditures among nine categories of expenditure to which NextGenerationEU green bonds proceeds can be allocated.

The EU advances sustainable finance through the NextGenerationEU Green Bonds by channelling funds into a wide array of green projects. The EU has become one of the world’s largest issuers of green bonds, increasing this market by a significant amount. By adhering to the International Capital Market Association Green Bond Principles and ensuring transparent reporting, the EU sets a high standard in the green bond market, encouraging the flow of capital towards environmentally positive investments. The NextGenerationEU Green Bonds not only signal the EU's strong commitment to sustainability but also integrate green initiatives into the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting a resilient and sustainable growth path for the future.

In line with the reporting requirements of the NextGenerationEU Green Bond Framework, the Commission published in December 2023 the first comprehensive NextGenerationEU Green Bonds Allocation and Impact Report. The analysis shows that measures financed by these bonds can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 44 million tonnes per year, equivalent to 1.2% of the EU's aggregate greenhouse gas emissions.

Since the last report, due to the inclusion of new measures from the recently adopted REPowerEU chapters, the pool of planned measures eligible for receiving financing under NextGenerationEU green bonds has increased by more than EUR 80 billion to reach EUR 268.1 billion of eligible assets by 31 August 2024. The next report will be published in November 2024, showing a further increase in the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that can be avoided by NextGenerationEU green bond investments.

Macroeconomic conditionality and the RRF

Article 10 of the RRF Regulation connects the RRF to the EU’s fiscal governance framework. Specifically, Article 10(1) of the RRF Regulation requires the Commission to make a proposal to the Council to suspend all or part of the relevant commitments or payments where the Council decides in accordance with Article 126(8) or (11) TFEU that a Member State has not taken effective action to correct its excessive deficit. This is unless the Commission has determined the existence of a severe economic downturn for the Union as a whole within the meaning of Articles 3(5) and 5(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97, i.e. the general escape clause of the corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact. Article 10(8) of the RRF Regulation requires the Commission to carry out a review of the application of Article 10 by the end of 2024 and to report to the European Parliament and the Council. The present report fulfils this requirement.

There was only one case since the inception of the RRF that was relevant to the application of Article 10 of the RRF Regulation. On 19 June 2024, the Commission proposed a Council decision under Article 126(8) TFEU due to Romania’s failure to deliver effective action in response to a recommendation under Article 126(7) TFEU, i.e. a recommendation under the excessive deficit procedure of the Stability and Growth Pact. The recommendation under Article 126(7) TFEU had been adopted by the Council on 18 June 2021 and recommended Romania to put an end to the excessive deficit situation by 2024 at the latest.

In 2023, the EU was still considered to be in a situation of severe economic downturn for the EU as a whole, with the general escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact still activated. For this reason, the Commission did not propose the suspension of commitments or payments of EU funds to Romania after the Council adopted the decision under Article 126(8) TFEU on 26 July 2024.

B. Revision of RRPs

Updated RRPs remain ambitious following the revisions undertaken in 2023 and 2024

Geopolitical events, high inflation, supply chain shortages and, in some cases, natural disasters made it challenging for Member States to implement certain reforms and investments in their RRPs. Member States, supported by the Commission, were able to mitigate these external constraints and to revise the relevant measures using the flexibility embedded in the RRF Regulation to amend RRPs where objective circumstances made it impossible to achieve the original milestones and targets (under Article 21 of the RRF Regulation). Member States also introduced REPowerEU chapters in their RRPs, thus benefitting from additional resources and boosting reforms and investments that diversify the EU’s energy supplies, accelerate the green transition and support vulnerable households. These revisions were also the occasion to update the RRPs to take account of the revised financial allocation to Member States 17 and tap into the remaining loan support 18 available under the RRF.

Revisions of RRPs ensured that they address the impact of high inflation and supply side bottlenecks that impacted the investment pipeline. All RRPs were updated at least once in 2023 and some were subject to additional targeted amendments: by the report’s cut-off date (31 August 2024), all Member States had submitted at least one request to modify their RRPs, 26 had submitted a REPowerEU chapter, and 11 Member States had also made additional targeted revisions (Table 2). In revising their RRPs, Member States paid particular attention not only to the quality of the measures but also to their degree of maturity and their implementation horizon, given the timebound nature of the RRF until 2026. Commitments that were no longer achievable due to objective circumstances were adjusted and, in many cases, replaced by more suitable alternatives, while keeping the original ambition of the RRP intact. The RRF’s broad scope has provided the necessary flexibility for Member States to allocate resources according to their evolving priorities, in line with the RRF objectives.

Table 2: State of play on the submission of modified RRPs and REPowerEU chapters by 31 August 2024

27 plans approved by the Commission and adopted by the Council

42 revisions submitted to the Commission

26 REPowerEU chapters submitted to the Commission

40 revisions assessed by the Commission

39 revisions adopted by Council

Source: European Commission

The total financial envelope and RRF contribution to each six policy pillars has changed following RRP revisions

The total financial envelope of the RRF was determined at EUR 650 billion at the end of August 2024. This breaks down in EUR 359 billion in non-repayable support and EUR 291 billion in loans. It includes the additional non-repayable support financed by the Emissions Trading System (‘ETS’) and transfers from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (‘BAR’) that were made available to Member States by the amended RRF Regulation to support REPowerEU. The EUR 359 billion in non-repayable support is split in (i) EUR 338 billion in original RRF non-repayable support, (ii) close to EUR 19.5 billion in ETS non-repayable support, and (iii) close to EUR 2 billion in BAR non-repayable support. Member States were able to request loan support until August 2023. Of the total available loan envelope of EUR 385 billion, close to EUR 291 billion was committed by end-2023, the legal deadline for financial commitments under the RRF. These two changes (an increase in non-repayable support available through ETS and BAR and less loan support requested than the total available envelope) led to a total RRF envelope of EUR 650 billion by end-August 2024. The previously reported amount of EUR 723 billion represented the maximum amount of RRF non-repayable support (EUR 338 billion) and RRF loans (EUR 385 billion) made available by the RRF Regulation.

As a result of this and the related plan revisions, the contribution of the RRPs to each policy pillar in terms of estimated costs has changed (see Figure 1). Whilst in absolute terms the estimated costs have increased for each policy pillar, measures contributing to pillar 1 on the green transition and pillar 3 on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth have been reinforced and a higher share of the RRPs now contributes to these two objectives.

Figure 1: Share of RRF estimated costs contributing to each policy pillars, before and after revisions of RPPs

Note: Each measure contributes towards two of the six policy pillars. Therefore, the total contribution to all pillars displayed on this chart amounts to 200% of the RRF funds allocated to Member States. The percentages shown for the contribution to the green transition and digital transformation pillars are different from the percentages shown for the contribution to the climate and digital objectives; the latter are calculated according to a different methodology (detailed in Annexes VI and VII of the RRF Regulation).

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Payment profiles have evolved following the revisions of RRPs 19

The payment profiles under the RRF (i.e. the amount to be disbursed in instalments against the satisfactory fulfilment of a predefined list of milestones and targets) were established according to a set of guiding principles. The original payment profiles were established as the reflection of several factors, including national financing needs and budgetary planning, and the proportion of milestones and targets in each instalment as well as their relative importance. As such, there is no simple linear relation between the number of milestones and targets in a given instalment and the size of the related disbursement,. Following discussions with Member States, the Commission proposed payment profiles that were ultimately approved by the Council.

With the revision of RRPs, payment profiles have evolved to reflect the addition of REPowerEU chapters, changes in the financial allocation per Member State and adjustments to existing RRF measures. The adoption of the REPowerEU chapters led to an increase in total grant support to Member States, with new REPowerEU-related milestones and targets added to the existing instalments. In addition, the plan revisions also aimed to reflect the updated financial allocation (Article 18 of the RRF Regulation) and account for objective circumstances affecting the achievability of measures (Article 21). This led to changes in the content (e.g. downscaling/upscaling of quantitative targets, replacement of milestones and targets with better alternatives) and implementation timelines of a number of measures in the RRPs. Both the change in the grant allocation and the addition, removal, and modification of milestones and targets were reflected in the revised payment profiles in line with the guiding principles used when establishing the payment profiles listed above. The Commission considered the need to ensure that payment profiles are commensurate to the implementation progress of milestones and targets, taking into account their relative importance, that they incentivise full implementation of the plans, and that, on aggregate, they remain compatible with the Union’s funding plan.

Figure 2 below shows the current payment profiles for the grant component of each RRP. They depict the cumulative share of each instalment’s gross amount as a percentage of the total grant allocation and the cumulative share of each instalment’s number of milestones and targets out of the total number of milestones and targets in the grant component. There is no linear relation between the number of milestones and targets in a given instalment and the size of the related disbursement since payment profiles are set in line with the set of principles mentioned above.

Figure 2: Percentage of non-repayable support (cumulative) and of milestones and targets included in each instalment, per Member States.

Note: There is no linear relation between the number of milestones and targets in a given instalment and the size of the related disbursement. This is because payment profiles were established as the reflection of several factors, including national financing needs and budgetary planning, the proportion of milestones and targets in each instalment, and their relative importance.

Source: European Commission

The RRF climate and digital targets continue to be met by revised RRPs

Following the revisions of RRPs adopted, all Member States continue to dedicate at least 37% of their RRP allocation to measures contributing to climate objectives and at least 20% to digital objectives (see Figure 3). For the RRF as a whole, estimated climate expenditure increased, and amounted to 42.5% of the RRF allocation by the end of August (the cut-off date), while estimated digital expenditure amounted to 26%, thus above both targets set in the Regulation.

Figure 3: Share of RRPs estimated total allocation supporting climate and digital objectives, following revision of RRPs

Note: The RRPs had to specify and justify to what extent each measure contributes fully (100%) to, partly (40%) to or has no impact (0%) on the climate and/or digital objectives. The contributions to climate and digital objectives have been calculated using Annexes VI and VII of the RRF Regulation, respectively. Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows calculating to what degree the plans contribute to the climate and digital targets.

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Revised RRPs contribute to social policies and gender equality across the EU

The revised RRPs continue to foster upward social convergence. An estimated total amount of around EUR 162.3 billion across RRPs contributes to social policy measures 20 , which represents about 25% of the estimated total expenditure. Following the revisions of RRPs, almost 30% of the estimated social expenditure is dedicated to investments and reforms in education & childcare (down by 4 percentage points) and to health & long-term care (down by 5 percentage points), respectively, whilst 25% is dedicated to employment and skills (up by 6 percentage points) and the rest to social policies (up by 3 percentage points) (Figure 4). Member States RRPs now include 423 (sub-)measures with a focus on children and youth, spread over several policy areas, including education at all levels, employment support, and housing.

Figure 4: Share of RRF estimated social expenditure per social category

Note: This graph shows the breakdown of estimated social expenditure across all RRPs. Social categories are defined and applied based on the methodology adopted by the Commission in consultation with the European Parliament and the Member States in the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2105.

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Member States’ RRPs continue to contribute to gender equality, with all but two plans including measures that explicitly aim at contributing to gender equality. The revised RRPs contain 136 (sub-)measures with a focus on gender equality. The breakdown of gender equality relevant measures per Member State is provided in Figure 5. In addition to the 1367 (sub-)measures explicitly contributing to gender equality, Member States continue to include other reforms and investments in their plans whose implementation can significantly contribute to these dimensions. This includes, for example, reforms and investments in infrastructure, public transport or digital connectivity. Such measures may have a positive impact in terms of access to remote education, essential (health) services and utilities, or allowing people with limited mobility or living in remote areas to participate in economic activities and social life.

Figure 5: Percentage of RRP measures with a focus on gender equality

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

C. Final recipients under the RRF

All Member States publish data on the 100 largest final recipients

In early 2023, transparency as regards the use of RRF funds was enhanced when the RRF Regulation was amended, in the context of REPowerEU, to require Member States to disclose information on the largest final recipients under their RRPs. According to Article 25a of the RRF Regulation, Member States must create a publicly accessible portal compiling data on the 100 final recipients receiving the highest amount of funding for the implementation of measures under the Facility and update the data twice a year 21 . In the context of the RRF, final recipients refer to the last entities receiving funds for the implementation of an RRF measure which are not contractors or sub-contractors, such as citizens, businesses, regional or local authorities. They can therefore be legal or natural persons 22 . In line with the Regulation’s requirements, the Commission centralises and publishes the data alongside links to Member States’ national portals on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard 23 .

To ensure consistency and comparability of the data, the Commission has provided guidance to the Member States. The Commission has discussed the reporting on final recipients with Member States in various meetings of the informal RRF expert group, underlining its importance for enhancing transparency. In this regard, and also following up on a request from the European Parliament 24 , annex V to this report consolidates this guidance and further clarifies the concept of final recipient under the RRF Regulation and the scope of the publication of data on the 100 largest final recipients under the RRF.

All 27 Member States have created a publicly available portal with data on the 100 largest final recipients. Already in 2023, all Member States had provided a first set of data on the 100 largest final recipients, and most also provided an update later in the year. The Commission expects all Member States to adhere to the bi-annual reporting deadline going forward and will closely monitor that Member States comply with their obligation to update the data twice per year. In 2024, almost all Member States have already provided a first update of their data, and the Commission expects the second update of the data in October.

Most Member States have provided a full list of data on the 100 largest final recipients under their RRPs, while a few have provided lists containing fewer than 100 final recipients, namely Bulgaria (19), Estonia (98), Hungary (99), Lithuania (71), Malta (31) and Romania (98). In some cases, this can be linked to the state of implementation of the respective RRPs of the Member States concerned, where the roll-out of measures is being prepared but funds have not yet reached the final recipients. The RRF Regulation also includes exemptions 25 from the obligation to publish data, in line with the provisions of the Financial Regulation, which may in some cases be relevant for the reporting on the largest final recipients.

The data on the largest final recipients in each Member State can provide valuable insights, allowing for increased transparency on the distribution of RRF funding. The data supplements the existing data on RRPs implementation, such as the fulfilled milestones and targets, and disbursements per pillar and feeds into the map of projects supported by the RRF.

The amounts of funding disbursed to the largest final recipients in each Member State vary considerably, in line with the heterogenous nature of RRPs and the differences in financial allocations. The highest amount received by a final recipient is more than EUR 22 billion, while the lowest amount received by one of the largest final recipients is EUR 5 723. The average value of funds received by the largest final recipients is almost EUR 63 million and the median value is significantly lower at EUR 4.5 million. Similarly, the sum of funds that the largest final recipients have received in each Member State so far represents different shares of their total envelopes (see Figure 6), both across Member States and when comparing the sum of funds received by the 10 largest and by the 100 largest final recipients within each Member State. On average, the total funds received by the 100 largest final recipients as a share of Member States’ allocations is 22.1%, while the funds received by the 10 largest final recipients represents a share of 14.3% of Member States’ allocations.

Figure 6: Sum of funds received by the 10 and 100 largest final recipients, as a share of the Member States' total envelope

Source: European Commission’s own calculation based on the final recipients’ data provided by Member States

Most of the largest final recipients reported across Member States are public entities. According to Commission estimates, 59.4% of the 100 largest final recipients across Member States are public entities and 40.7% are private entities 26 . The largest final recipients per Member State that are public authorities have received approximately EUR 94.5 billion in total, which corresponds to 15% of all committed RRF funds, and those that are private entities have received EUR 65 billion, representing a share of 10% of all committed RRF funds. Since many RRF measures are geared towards improving the provision of public goods, in areas such as health, transport or digitalisation of public administrations which generally represent costly, large-scale investment projects, public authorities are often the final recipients. Nonetheless, the RRF is also providing extensive support to the private sector and in particular to SMEs, supporting their digitalisation and the reskilling and upskilling of their employees.

The largest final recipients receive funding for investments across all six RRF policy pillars

The measures for which the 100 largest final recipients under the RRF have received funding are distributed across the six policy pillars (Figure 7). This shows that the RRF offers comprehensive support to Member States across the most relevant policy areas. At the same time, the largest final recipients have been mostly involved in implementing measures contributing to the green transition (23%), closely followed by investments in smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (22%), the digital transformation and social and territorial cohesion (18% each). This highlights the focus on stimulating the economic and social recovery after the COVID-19 crisis, as well as preparing EU economies, societies, and public administrations for the green and digital transitions, fully in line with the overarching objectives of the Facility.

The largest amounts received by final recipients support infrastructure projects, digitalisation, and mobility, whereas the measures most frequently supported relate to investments fostering energy efficiency. Overall, the largest sums of funding that final recipients have received for the implementation of RRP measures are related to investments in territorial infrastructure and services, e-government and digital public services, and sustainable mobility. Such measures typically represent projects which are large, more expensive and take more time to implement. On the other hand, the 100 largest final recipients have most often received funding for the implementation of measures supporting energy efficiency. Other policy areas where final recipients have most often received funding are territorial infrastructure and services, e-government and digital public services, general, vocational, and higher education, and research, development and innovation.

Figure 7: Contribution of the amounts received and associated measures which the 100 largest final recipients receive support for towards the six policy pillars 27

Source: European Commission’s own calculation based on the final recipients’ data provided by Member States

D. Controls and audit in the implementation of the RRF

The Commission’s RRF control framework comprises two layers: controls to provide assurance on the legality and regularity of the Commission’s disbursements to Member States, and controls to ensure adequate protection of the financial interests of the Union. Regarding the legality and regularity of transactions, thorough ex-ante controls are performed before any disbursement is made to assess the satisfactory fulfilment of each milestone and target included in the payment request. Following the disbursement, the Commission also carries out risk-based ex-post audits on milestones and targets to obtain additional assurance that the information provided by the Member State was correct. Next to this, to ensure financial interests of the Union are protected, the Commission has assessed each national control system ex-ante, and has, where necessary, introduced milestones on the control systems that must be fulfilled prior to any future payment. Risk-based system audits are undertaken to check the procedures in place in Member States to prevent, detect and correct fraud, corruption, and conflict of interests, as well as double-funding, and additional compliance audits are undertaken to verify the reliability of the audit work done by the national audit authorities.

The Commission has continued to protect the financial interests of the Union

From 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024, the Commission carried out 17 ex-post audits on milestones and targets 28 . The choice of milestones and targets is guided by a risk assessment taking various factors into account. Based on this risk assessment 29 , the Commission audited in total 82 of the 748 milestones and targets included in payment requests paid out in 2023. To determine its audit sample, the Commission also considered where a milestone or target for the same measure was already audited by the Commission in the previous year and/or was already audited by the national Audit Authorities providing reasonable assurance to the Commission. By 31 August 2024, the Commission also audited 10 milestones and targets included in payment requests paid out in 2024. The Commission found no evidence that the audited milestones and targets have not been satisfactorily fulfilled. Any other discrepancies identified between the data declared and the data audited remained within the margin of 5% considered by the Commission for its assessment.

From 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024, the Commission carried out four system audits on the Protection of Financial Interests of the Union 30 . The four audits covered three coordinating bodies and 11 implementing bodies, such as ministries, or agencies, which were selected based on a risk assessment framework. By the end of 2023, each Member State’s control system had been audited at least once. In the context of these system audits and other audit work, the Commission also carried out checks on compliance with State aid and public procurement procedures, covering both the procedures in place to prevent fraud, corruption, and conflict of interests in public procurement procedures, and actual implementation of these procedures on sampled measures.

Based on the current audit work, the Commission identified an overall positive picture, albeit with room for improvement, regarding the implementation of internal control systems across the Member States. Good practices for some of the audited implementing bodies were identified, such as procedures in place for the detection of possible fraud, corruption, conflict of interests, and double funding, notably using data mining tools such as ARACHNE 31 . The Commission however also raised a range of specific concerns, which often related not to the national system overall but only to individual bodies within a Member State, such as a lack of coordination and supervision, data collection issues, incomplete anti-fraud strategies and fraud risk assessments, and needed improvements regarding the ex-ante controls. Member States have started to implement the necessary improvements stemming from these audit findings and the Commission is closely monitoring the implementation of the recommendations.

The RRF remains under close scrutiny by the European Court of Auditors

In addition to the audits carried out by the Commission itself, the RRF is scrutinised by the European Court of Auditors (‘ECA’) through audits on each individual payment as well as numerous performance audits on the RRF’s setup or specific thematic areas. The ECA has so far audited all RRF payments made to Member States. In addition, three performance audits specifically dedicated to the RRF have been finalised as of 31 August 2024, namely on the Commission’s assessment of RRPs, the design of the Commission’s control system for the RRF, and on the framework put in place by the Commission to monitor the performance of the RRF. Another eight 32 ECA audits focusing on the RRF are either pending publication or expected to be finalised by end 2024 and five further audits are starting or expected to start by end 2024, such as a dedicated audit on the revised RRPs and their REPowerEU chapters. In addition, RRF-related matters are also considered in ECA Reviews and thematic special reports on specific policy areas or other programmes, such as in a recent audit on the Union’s rule of law framework 33 .

As in previous years, the ECA has audited all RRF payments made in the financial year 2023, i.e. 23 RRF payment made to 17 Member States. The ECA also specifically looked at the ex-post audits carried out by DG ECFIN and at the audit and control milestones included in RRPs. This audit work comes on top of national pre- and post-submission audits on the data included in payments requests and the Commission’s own audits. In its annual report for the financial year 2023, the ECA identifies findings with financial impact in connection with six non-repayable payments made in 2023 to Member States. Having carefully examined the ECA’s findings, the Commission considers its original assessments of ‘satisfactory fulfilment’ to be correct. It notes in its replies that the ECA’s conclusions are principally based on differences in the Commission’s and the ECA’s interpretation of the legal requirements, or differences in the qualitative judgement on either specific cases or broader RRF legal concepts. In this context, the Commission provides in annex to this Annual Report two explanatory documents. Annex II explains the Commission’s interpretation on eligibility of measures in light of the ‘retroactive’ start date foreseen by the co-legislators in Article 17(2) of the RRF Regulation. Annex III explains the application by the Commission of the eligibility clause concerning substitution of ‘recurring national budgetary expenditure’.

The Commission swiftly follows up on ECA’s recommendations. The Commission has so far received 28 RRF-related recommendations from ECA annual or special reports 34 . Only three have been rejected in full by the Commission, as the Commission noted that the recommendations could not be implemented in line with the legal basis and objectives of the RRF Regulation. Of the other 25 RRF recommendations received, the Commission considers that 24 have been implemented, all in time, leaving only one still to be implemented by the end of 2024. For instance, following the ECA’s recommendation, the Commission has published methodologies on the treatment of the reversal of milestone or targets, published a methodology for partial or full suspensions, improved record keeping and documentation on its payment request assessments, organised exchanges of good practice amongst Member States, and reviewed milestones and targets under revision to ensure clarity of requirements.

Benefitting from the findings and recommendations from various audits 35 , the Commission has taken a dynamic approach to audit and control and has revised and further strengthened its audit and control framework for the RRF. By way of example, the updated Guidance on recovery and resilience plans 36 , adopted on 19 July 2024, provides additional guidance to ensure the continued adequacy of controls to identify and avoid any risk of double funding, while facilitating synergies in the use of EU funds. To provide further transparency and clarity, Annex IV of this report summarises how the Commission interprets the concept of double funding as provided by Article 9 of the RRF Regulation, which envisages additionality of funding while allowing a combination of RRF support with other EU programmes. As part of the updated guidance, the Commission has also published a framework for reductions and recoveries, which covers all the grounds for reductions and recoveries under the RRF Regulation 37 . Moreover, the Commission has continued to strengthen its control framework. In the past year, it has revised the RRF control and audit strategies to reinforce ex-ante controls, to better cover potential risks related to the RRF implementation as well as to reflect its reinforced controls on the effectiveness of Member States’ internal control systems to ensure compliance with EU and national rules, strengthened cooperation between DGs on audit matters, and explicitly cover in its work potential risks of reversals.

E. Communication and dialogues in 2023-2024

The European Parliament, the Council, and Member States remain continuously involved in the implementation of the RRF

The Commission has been closely engaging with the European Parliament and the Council since the beginning of the RRF implementation. The Commission continues to share without delay all modified RRPs submitted by Member States, as well as all preliminary assessments of payment requests, with both the European Parliament and the Council on equal terms. This ensures a transparent flow of information with a high level of engagement between the institutions throughout the implementation phase. As regards the European Parliament, the Commission is holding regular exchanges to discuss horizontal topics concerning the RRF.

Since the creation of the RRF, the Commission has been invited to, and participated in, 16 high-level Recovery and Resilience Dialogues 38 with the European Parliament. Moreover, the Commission engages regularly with the Members of the European Parliament in the standing Working Group of the joint ECON-BUDG Committees and participated overall in 35 meetings. In addition, the Commission is invited on a regular basis to various other committees to exchange views on matters related to the RRF, including the REGI, CONT and ENVI committees. The Commission continues to publish all presentations delivered in the context of the standing Working Group, on a dedicated website 39 and looks forward to working with the newly elected European Parliament.

The Commission has also maintained its informal expert group to exchange with Member States on the implementation of the RRF and is frequently organising exchanges of views and good practices. This group is an important forum to discuss among Member States’ experts and the Commission cross-cutting aspects on the RRF. The Commission publishes all relevant documents, such as agendas, minutes, and others, on a dedicated website 40 . To date, the Commission has organised 28 meetings of the informal RRF expert group, including two in-person ‘matchmaking’ workshops organised in Brussels where Member States met to share their experience and discuss common challenges. The first workshop was organised on 28 November 2023 and covered governance and administrative capacity. The second workshop was organised on 4 July 2024 and focused specifically on the Member States’ application of the Do-No-Significant-Harm principle.

The visibility of the EU in the implementation of RRPs could be further enhanced

As for other Union funds, Member States are under an obligation to ensure that the recipients of Union funding under the RRF acknowledge the origin and ensure the visibility of the funding. Despite these communication and visibility obligations, the results of a 2022 Eurobarometer survey 41 show that, while there is a good knowledge among EU citizens of the existence of the RRPs for their countries (with differences across Member States), there is insufficient awareness that the RRPs are funded (fully or in part) by the EU. This shows the need for Member States to step up their efforts. At the same time, more than half of Europeans (55%, +2 percentage points since autumn 2023) think that NextGenerationEU can be effective in responding to the current economic challenges 42 .

In this context, the European Commission organised two events in Brussels during 2024 to reflect on the achievements of the RRF so far and to boost communication around them. First, on 9 April 2024, the European Commission and the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union organised an event to mark the publication of the mid-term evaluation of the RRF. The event was also an opportunity to look ahead at the remaining challenges and how to ensure that the RRF achieves its objectives in the remaining three years. On 12 April 2024, during the European Youth Week organised every two years to promote youth engagement, a session was held on the positive impact of the RRF on young people. The session focused on the experiences of eight young participants from across the EU who benefited from the RRF measures in different ways.

Compliance with the communication requirements is also systematically part of the ex-post audits of milestones and targets carried out by the Commission. In this context, the Commission also continues to provide support to Member States in their implementation of the communication strategies included in the RRPs. Eight Member States are currently participating in a multi-country Technical Support Instruments 43 project on building capacities for effective communication of the benefits of the RRPs.

The interactive map provides a visual overview of projects supported by the RRF

With the aim of further increasing the visibility and transparency of the RRF, the Commission regularly updates the interactive map of projects supported by the RRF in each Member State 44 .

Launched in March 2023, the map provides an overview of selected reforms and investments, points to their geographical location and offers information on their state of play. It also includes links to online resources providing more detailed information, such as national RRF websites and, where available, the websites of the specific RRF-funded projects.

So far, over 1 800 projects across all Member States have been added to the map.

Figure 8: Map of projects supported by the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Member States continue to hold RRF annual events

Annual events bring together national authorities’ and Commission representatives, stakeholders (including social partners and civil society representatives) and recipients of RRF support, among others, to discuss the progress in implementing the various projects proposed by Member States in their national RRPs.

By August 2024, 33 annual events had taken place in 24 Member States. During the reporting period (1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024), 14 annual events took place. The well-established cooperation between European Semester Officers in the Commission Representations and national administrations contribute to the success of these events. They provide excellent opportunities to broaden the audience beyond the regular RRF stakeholders and provide a much wider outreach.

Example of an RRF annual event

On 14 March 2024, the Annual Event on Spain’s RRP brought together key stakeholders, including representatives from the European Commission, the Spanish government, regional and local authorities, and various partners such as project beneficiaries, academia, social organisations, and NGOs. The event featured three thematic panels that explored Spain's efforts to accelerate the green transition, enhance competitiveness, and address the challenges of implementing the revised RRP.

The Commission undertakes additional relevant communication activities

Communicating on the benefits of the national RRPs is also a core communication task of all the Representations of the European Commission to the Member States. Apart from the annual events, numerous other outreach activities are carried out in close cooperation with European Semester Officers and other teams within the Representations. Four pilot localised campaigns took place in Austria, Croatia, Czechia and Slovenia, and other Member States will follow.

The Commission has also been communicating extensively on the implementation of the RRF with the press, ever since the RRF’s inception. The Commission regularly reaches out to national correspondents and specialised journalists to ensure a wide coverage and broad understanding by the general public of the main issues pertaining to the RRF and its implementation on the ground, issuing over 200 press releases and press materials and organising numerous press conferences and technical briefings both in Brussels and in Member States, with the support of the Commission’s Representations.

F. Key findings from the mid-term evaluation of the RRF

Its mid-term evaluation showed that the RRF has supported the recovery and brought innovation in EU spending

The mid-term evaluation of the RRF was published on 21 February 2024, in accordance with Article 32 of the RRF Regulation, and assesses how the RRF is delivering against its objectives, based on the evidence available at the time. The evaluation acknowledges that it comes too early to assess the full economic impact of the instrument. It looks at what has worked well and what could be improved and identifies key lessons learnt, which can help inform reflections on possible future performance-based funding instruments. A more comprehensive assessment of the Facility’s impact will be included in the ex-post evaluation of the RRF, to be published in 2028.

The mid-term evaluation covers the evaluation requirements set out in Article 32(2) of the RRF Regulation and the five evaluation criteria set out in the European Commission’s Better Regulation Guidelines and the Inter-institutional Agreement on Better Law-Making 45 . The scope includes the design of the RRPs and the implementation of the Facility in all Member States until 1 February 2024. The assessment benefitted from an independent external report prepared by a consortium of researchers 46 , which provided an objective assessment of progress. This was supplemented by data held by the European Commission and available on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard 47 , by official reports from Member States and from other EU institutions, as well as by feedback from various stakeholders, including regional and local authorities.

The mid-term evaluation shows that the RRF has paved the way for the EU’s economic recovery following the pandemic. The announcement of the RRF contributed to the narrowing of sovereign bond spreads, and public investment was maintained in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, increasing from 3.0% in 2019 to 3.5% in 2023. Around half of the expected increase in public investment between 2019 and 2025 is related to investment financed by the EU budget, particularly by the RRF. Commission modelling suggests that NextGenerationEU has the potential to increase EU real GDP by up to 1.4% in 2026 above a no-NextGenerationEU scenario 48 . The model simulations also suggest a sizeable, short-run increase in EU employment (by up to 0.8%).

The mid-term evaluation illustrates that the RRF plays a key role in supporting structural reforms and common EU policy priorities. RRF-supported structural reforms and investments have fostered progress on common policy priorities, notably regarding the green and digital transitions and socio-economic convergence. Whilst it is too early to assess the full impact of the Facility, the evaluation includes telling examples of reforms and investments supported by the RRF. Examples include improvements of the functioning of public administrations as well as the effectiveness of judicial systems, to energy efficiency, to digital public services, to sustainable transport, to education and training, to research and innovation, to social protection, and to access to the labour market.

The RRF mid-term evaluation highlighted the added value of the performance-based approach and of providing financial support to incentivise structural reforms. The evaluation notes that the performance-based approach of the RRF is instrumental in enhancing the effectiveness of the Facility: disbursements upon the delivery of concrete outputs (i.e. milestones and targets) are fast. Combining reforms and investments in one funding instrument creates synergies between them, whilst the integration of a comprehensive reform and investment agenda into a single RRP supports the plans’ internal coherence. One of the most notable successes of the RRF is its proven ability to incentivise the implementation of structural reforms, including reforms recommended in the context of the European Semester. In the two years preceding the RRF, the share of 2016-2017 CSRs reaching at least ‘some progress’ increased by only six percentage points from 53% in 2018 to 59% in 2020. In comparison, the share of 2019-2020 CSRs reaching at least ‘some progress’ increased by 17 percentage points from 52% in 2021 before the implementation of the RRF to almost 69% in 2023.

The evaluation includes useful considerations for future performance-based instruments

The RRF created entry costs for Member States administrations, with room for further simplification. Concerning the design of the instrument, in the mid-term evaluation Member States refer to the combined obligations linked to (i) the evidence needed to prove fulfilment of milestones and targets, (ii) demanding reporting requirements, for example the common indicators and the bi-annual data; and (iii) the audit and control framework. The audit and control framework enshrined in the RRF Regulation is perceived as complex, particularly given the perceived overlap between controls and audits by national authorities, the Commission and the ECA. Member States see room for simplifying control and audit procedures, ensuring better coordination among the actors involved and avoiding multiple checks. Finally, some national authorities also pointed to inflexibility in the Commission’s assessment of milestones and targets and the rigid and resource-intensive procedures to revise RRPs.

Member States’ administrative capacity is key to the successful implementation of their RRPs. Many Member States did not sufficiently strengthen administrative capacity, including at local and regional levels, as pointed out for example by the Committee of the Regions. This has hampered Member States’ capacity to implement their plans. Moreover, political consensus on the implementation of key reforms, for example linked to country-specific recommendations or to audit and control milestones, is key. The main delays in the implementation of RRPs appear where Member States’ administrative capacity is limited and/or where Member States have not (yet) been able to fulfil crucial reform milestones.

The involvement of regional and local authorities, social partners, civil society organisations and other relevant stakeholders is a key factor in the planning and implementation of RRP measures. While the RRF Regulation requires Member States to include information on the consultations conducted when drafting their RRPs, the level and form of involvement of these stakeholders depends on national legal frameworks and can differ significantly from one Member States to another. Alongside national authorities, who take on the main coordination and oversight role, local and regional authorities, as well as social partners, civil society organisations and other stakeholders, also have a crucial role to play. In the mid-term evaluation, local and regional authorities, social partners and civil society pointed to their insufficient involvement by Member States in the preparation and implementation of the RRPs. While this may be partly explained with the need for speed in designing RRPs in a crisis context, it is key that, going forward, their close involvement supports ownership and implementation on the ground.

In reaction to the insights from the RRF mid-term evaluation, the Council adopted Conclusion and the Commission updated its guidance. On 12 April 2024, the ECOFIN adopted Council Conclusions on the RRF mid-term evaluation 49 , which pointed to the higher-than-expected administrative burden related to the implementation of the RRF, both for the Commission and Member States. The Council invited the Commission and Member States to identify ways to streamline and improve the implementation of RRPs, whilst ensuring the protection of the EU’s financial interests. In this spirit, the Commission examined ways to simplify the implementation of the RRF within the framework of the current legislation. On 19 July 2024, the Commission adopted its updated guidance on RRPs 50 , which introduces several simplification elements regarding the implementation of the RRF. In particular, the updated Guidance:

-provides more clarity on the possibility to amend an RRP under Article 21 of the RRF Regulation, where a Member State identifies a better alternative to implement a measure in a way that reduces the administrative burden linked to the implementation of that measure and without lowering the ambition of the plan;

-defines more clearly the scope for other changes that can be made to an RRP under Article 21 of the RRF Regulation;

-explains the circumstances under which operational arrangements may not need to be revised following the amendment of an RRP, to reduce the administrative burden linked to such revisions; and

-provides greater clarity regarding the conditions under which a pro-rata combination of support from the RRF and other EU funds is possible while avoiding double funding.

In parallel, the Commission also simplified Member States’ reporting requirements to the extent possible under the RRF Regulation, by reducing the information requested in the context of the bi-annual reporting on the implementation of the RRPs and enabling Member States to delete their Annex II 51 from the operational arrangements.

2.Progress in implementing the Recovery and Resilience Facility

A. Common indicators

The RRF has achieved significant real outcomes on the ground

The Common Indicators show the progress in the implementation of the RRPs towards the achievement of the general and specific objectives and the overall performance of the RRF 52 . The data is reported by the Member States twice per year and covers 14 indicators 53 . While Common Indicators reflect concrete performance outputs stemming from the RRF measures, they are not the only tool for tracking progress in the implementation of the RRF. The Common Indicators are reported in addition to progress on over 6000 milestones and targets featured in the bi-annual reporting by Member States.

The RRF has contributed to considerable outputs and results across the 14 different indicators. To date, the data of five reporting rounds have been reviewed and published on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard 54 , covering the progress achieved in the period from February 2020 to December 2023. Figure 9 shows the current state of play on the common indicators, reflecting important achievements towards the objectives of the Facility and the EU’s key priorities.

Figure 9: State of play on the common indicators

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

By end-2023, about 34 million Megawatt hour (‘MWh’) of savings in annual energy consumption had been achieved thanks to support from the RRF (Figure 10). Reducing our energy consumption and increasing energy efficiency are among the EU’s top priorities and a pre-condition for the clean-energy transition. Common indicator (1) captures the reduction in annual primary energy consumption achieved with RRF support. For context, the energy savings achieved so far exceed the entire annual electricity consumption of Denmark 55 . Examples are reductions of energy consumption in buildings, schools, hospitals or in enterprises.

Figure 10: Evolution of savings in annual primary energy consumption, in MWh

Note: This graph shows common indicator 2. This is a stock indicator which is cumulative and increase over time. Therefore, incremental values are reported by the Member States.

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

By December 2023, RRF support measures helped almost 15 million homes gain access to very high-capacity internet networks (Figure 11). Common indicator (5) reflects the number of homes (dwellings) that gained access to very high-capacity internet networks through measures under the RRF, including 5G networks and gigabit speed. Homes that previously had no or slower access are counted. Access to high-speed digital infrastructure is a pre-requisite for an inclusive digital transformation and is reflected as a priority across the RRPs.

Figure 11: Evolution of additional dwellings with internet access provided via very high-capacity networks

Note: This graph shows common indicator 5. This is a stock indicator which is cumulative and increase over time. Therefore, incremental values are reported by the Member States.

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard.

In the second half of 2023 alone, over 3 million people were trained thanks to RRF support (Figure 12). In total, the education or training of over 11.8 million people have been supported by the RRF since its inception. The COVID-19 crisis also heavily disrupted EU education and training systems, and common indicator (10) reflects the contribution of the RRF to education and training and the development of skills. Reforms and investments in education and training are crucial to prepare citizens for the green and digital transitions, and to ensure that they have the possibility to develop the skills they need. A particular focus is placed on trainings to improve digital skills, in light of their ever-growing importance in the labour market and in society.

Figure 12: Evolution in number of participants in education or training

Note: This graph shows common indicator 10. This common indicator is a flow indicator, which relates to the performance within the given 6-months reporting period only and, therefore, might fluctuate between reporting periods.

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRF helped 800 000 enterprises either through monetary or in-kind support in the second half of 2023 (Figure 13). In total, over 2.8 million enterprises have been supported by the RRF since its inception. The COVID-19 crisis had a heavy impact on the entire EU economy and small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs’) have particularly suffered. Looking at the support provided to boost EU economies and to help enterprises, common indicator (9) shows the number of enterprises supported by measures under the RRF.

Figure 13: Evolution of enterprises supported (including micro, small, medium and large)

Note: This graph shows common indicator 9. This common indicator is a flow indicator, which relates to the performance within the given 6-months reporting period only and, therefore, might fluctuate between reporting periods.

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

In line with the principles of gender mainstreaming and equal opportunities for all cited in the Regulation, four of the common indicators disaggregate data by gender. According to data reported by Member States, approximately 55% of participants in education or training supported by RRF funding are women (common indicator 10). Common indicator 8 shows that approximately 40% of researchers working in supported research facilities are women. Common indicator 11 on the number of people in employment or engaged in job searching activities indicates that over 60% of those supported are women while common indicator 14 shows the number of young people receiving support from the RRF is relatively gender balanced 56 .

B. Bi-annual reporting data

Most milestones and targets are reported to be implemented in accordance with the RRPs timelines

85% of the milestones and targets that were due by Q1 2024 have either been assessed by the Commission as fulfilled or self-reported by Member States as completed 57 . Specifically, 1 419 out of the 3 171 milestones and targets that were due by Q1 2024 have been assessed as fulfilled by the Commission and an additional 1 267 have been reported as completed by Member States (Figure 14). However, another 485 milestones and targets due by Q1 2024 (or 15.3%) were reported by Member States as not completed.

Figure 14: Progress of backward-looking milestones and targets, for Q1 2020 to Q1 2024

Figure 15: Progress of milestones and targets due in the future, for Q2 2024 to Q1 2025

Source: European Commission

The implementation of milestones and targets is reported to be on track for the upcoming 12 months. Milestones and targets that are due to be completed between Q2 2024 and Q1 2025 have mostly been reported as “on track” by Member States (nearly 83%, or 996 out of 1 199 milestones and targets). Member States indicate that they have completed 93 milestones and targets (8%) ahead of the planned date and reported 110 (or 9%) as “delayed” (Figure 15). Among the reasons for the delays, Member States highlighted administrative hold-ups, the effects of delayed legislative procedures or of delays in the completion of previous necessary milestones, high inflation and supply chain disruptions’ consequences, low subscription or acceptance of projects, difficulty in implementing large and complex projects, as well as slower than expected implementation.

The progress in the implementation of milestones and targets is steady across all six policy pillars (Figure 16). The smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, and the green transition pillars include the most fulfilled and completed milestones and targets (1 616 and 1 527 respectively), whilst a good amount is on track to be delivered by Q1 2025. The health and economic, social and institutional resilience and the digital transformation pillars, as well as the social and territorial cohesion are also well above 1 000 fulfilled, completed or on track milestones and targets.

Figure 16: Milestones and targets contributing to the six RRF Regulation pillars and their respective status up to Q1 2025

Source: European Commission

C. Progress across the six policy pillars

Member States have made visible implementation progress across all six RRF policy pillars

Green transition

The RRF will help achieve the EU’s targets to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and to reach climate neutrality by 2050. The measures supported by the RRF are contributing to meeting the EU’s climate ambition by promoting sustainable mobility, increasing energy efficiency and promoting a higher deployment of renewable energy sources. They will also ensure progress towards climate adaption and other environmental objectives such as reducing air pollution, promoting the circular economy or restoring and protecting biodiversity. Following the adoption of the REPowerEU chapters, a total of EUR 346 billion 58 – over 50 percent of Member States’ total allocation to date – has been dedicated to measures contributing to the green transition pillar.

Figure 17: Percentage of milestones and targets contributing to the green transition assessed as fulfilled or reported as completed, per RRP

Source: European Commission

Progress in implementing measures related to the green transition has been good overall. Approximately a third of milestones and targets have been reported as completed or assessed as satisfactorily fulfilled by the Commission. Specifically, 1 080 of 3 214 milestones and targets related to the green transition are already reported as completed by Member States or assessed as fulfilled by the Commission, which corresponds to a progress rate of approximately 34% (including 19% assessed in payment requests). 355 of these milestones and targets contributing to the green transition were assessed by the Commission as fulfilled between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024. Whilst it is too early to assess the RRF’s full impact on the green transition as the final effects will only materialise in the longer term, the already fulfilled ‘green’ milestones and targets have helped increase momentum for the green transition. The examples provided in the box below highlight key measures with completed milestones and targets during the reporting period (1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024).

Examples of relevant measures with fulfilled milestones and targets under the green transition pillar

Reforms:

-Spain (i) adopted the Report on Green Budget to map green expenses in the annual budget law in line with the EU methodology and monitoring framework; (ii) approved the Forest Strategy; (iii) amended horizontal property law to facilitate building renovation works and improved access to finance; and (iv) endorsed a Rail Strategy to set up a clear sustainable mobility-planning scenario for the railway transport mode and to align investment priorities in the sector.

-Poland (i) updated its National Air Protection Programme, mandating the end of public subsidies to coal-fired heat sources and introducing a series of measures and policies to effectively improve air quality; and (ii) amended the Energy Efficiency Act to facilitate the use of Energy Performance Contracts, thereby promoting energy efficiency investments in public and private projects to accelerate the replacement of polluting heat sources.

-Finland adopted the Act on Excise Duty on Electricity and Certain Fuels. The provision in the law of the Act’s entry into force indicates a change in existing taxation of different types of energy in view of contributing to the phasing out of fossil fuels by promoting electrification of industry and encouraging investment in low-carbon technologies.

Investments:

-Italy (i) constructed more than 200 km of bicycle paths in metropolitan areas and cities hosting universities, which will facilitate commuting between universities, intermodal nodes and other points in metropolitan areas; (ii) improved the resilience of more than 172 km of railways in the southern railways, which includes renewal of railways line on 6 different routes; and (iii) reduced irregular landfills from 34 to 14, representing a 60% reduction, improving waste management and reducing the environmental strain.

-Portugal (i) installed an additional 1 730 publicly accessible recharging stations in order to effectively build upon and expand the existing network to support the use of cleaner vehicles; and (ii) signed contracts for the procurement of 257 zero-emission buses and the construction of dedicated charging infrastructure for utilisation in the Lisbon and Porto Metropolitan areas in order to decarbonise public transport.

-Czechia (i) completed 26 projects related to modernising railway lines, modernising railways stations with reconstructed track and safe and barrier-free accessible platforms and reduced energy intensity and increased comfort in station buildings; (ii) constructed more than 24 km of bicycle paths to facilitate soft mobility; and (iii) completed 15 projects to establish resilient flood protection, including efficient management of rainwater in urban areas, which will protect citizens against flood risks.

Digital transformation

The RRF provides a significant contribution to the digital transformation in the Union. The RRPs cover a range of measures, including deployment of next generation digital infrastructures and advanced technologies, digital skills development for the general population and the workforce (through education and trainings), and support to the digitalisation of enterprises as well as of public services. A total of EUR 166.2 billion will be allocated to support the digital transformation pillar 59 .

Member States have made significant progress in implementing measures related to the digital transformation, and over a third of related milestones and targets are reported as complete or assessed by the Commission as fulfilled. Specifically, 877 of 2 464 milestones and targets related to the digital transformation are already reported as completed by Member States or assessed as fulfilled by the Commission, which corresponds to a progress rate of 35% (including 19% assessed in payment requests). 290 of these milestones and targets contributing to the digital transformation were assessed by the Commission as fulfilled between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024 (reporting period). The examples provided in the box below highlight key measures with completed milestones and targets during the reporting period.

Figure 18: Percentage of milestones and targets contributing to the digital transformation assessed as fulfilled or reported as completed, per RRP

Source: European Commission

Examples of relevant measures with fulfilled milestones and targets under the digital transformation pillar

Reforms:

-The Open Government Act implemented in the Netherlands enhances transparency and accessibility of public administrations information. Public and semi-public authorities now provide more easily accessible and compatible information to citizens, the press and media, Members of Parliament and their staff.

-In Latvia, the Digital Health Strategy was adopted, which serves as a roadmap for the development and implementation of digital solutions in the healthcare sector that are safe and meet the needs of patients and the industry. The strategy covers such aspects as data management, use of data for research, public health sector IT systems and solutions, private IT systems, cross-border data exchange and digital skills needed for implementation and use of any new digital health solutions.

Investments:

-France has successfully launched the new sovereign digital identity application, allowing users to access it with ease. As a result, over 12.5 million new ID cards with a 'digital identity' feature were issued.

-Czechia has expanded access to the digital bulletin boards of regional and municipal authorities. It now requires the publication of open metadata of official bulletin boards in nearly 300 entities, including local governments and municipalities. This contributes to the improvement of the National Open Data Catalogue by publishing public administration code lists in public databases, and increasing the number of open data producers.

-At least 3 500 households and businesses in Denmark have gained access to high-speed internet, which they previously lacked, via the expansion of the existing broadband scheme, Bredbåndspuljen. This scheme has delivered high-speed internet access to rural areas of Denmark suffering from inadequate coverage due to insufficient market incentives, including islands without bridge connection.

-In Italy, three important targets linked to the onboarding of public administrations into eGovernment solutions were fulfilled: (i) 6 678 additional public administrations adopted the "PagoPA" digital payment system (+71% compared to 2021), (ii) 10 675 additional public administrations joined and provided services through the public services single access point, called “app IO” (+251% compared to 2021) and (iii) 1 798 Central Public Administrations and Municipalities subscribed to the “Digital notification Platform” and started sending legally-binding notices to citizens, legal entities, associations and any other public or private entities via the platform.

Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth

The RRPs contribute to smart, inclusive and sustainable growth (i.e. pillar 3) with 1 700 measures and sub-measures worth over EUR 332 billion 60 . These measures cover a wide range of areas, including reforms and investments to enhance the business environment and competitiveness, support for SMEs, research and development, innovation, and the cultural sector.

There has been significant progress in implementing measures related to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, with 40% milestones and targets contributing to this RRF objective reported as completed by Member States or assessed as satisfactorily fulfilled by the Commission. 1 346 of 3 305 milestones and targets contributing to smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth are reported as completed by Member States or assessed as fulfilled by the Commission, which corresponds to a progress rate of 41% (including 23% assessed in payment requests). 420 of these milestones and targets were assessed by the Commission as fulfilled between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024 (reporting period). The examples provided in the box below highlight key measures with completed milestones and targets during the reporting period.

Figure 19: Percentage of milestones and targets contributing to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth assessed as fulfilled or reported as completed, per RRP

Source: European Commission

Examples of relevant measures with fulfilled milestones and targets under smart, sustainable and inclusive growth pillar

Reforms:

-Czechia established a certification platform for the medical devices and aerospace industries. This platform connects companies with regulatory bodies to provide essential information, training, and guidance on obtaining certificates for specific products and services.

-Malta set up an e-College offering comprehensive online courses with the objective to expand upskilling and reskilling opportunities for all adults regardless of their employment status. Learners are assisted through a mentoring and guidance unit as well as an online hub to provide guidance services to adults seeking the best educational trajectory to match their upskilling and reskilling needs as well as counselling in general wellbeing. The e-college is also complemented by a hub facility providing physical space with technical equipment and in-person coaching for adults who are lacking digital skills or equipment to access courses online.

-Lithuania has created a new Research Council that helps businesses and organisations take advantage of international research and innovation opportunities and provides analytical support to the government on innovation and higher education policies.

Investments:

-In Italy, 25 companies, including SMEs, have received funding for participating in Important Projects of Common European Interest on hydrogen technology and industry; microelectronics and communication technologies; and next generation cloud infrastructure and services. These projects finance breakthrough innovation contributing to Europe’s competitiveness, innovation and sustainability.

-In Croatia, around EUR 18 million has been granted to research projects carried out by universities and research institutes that have agreed to focus on results, changing the way public research is funded towards rewarding successful outcomes.

-In Spain, EUR 897 million were awarded to 3 463 research and development projects linked to: (i) proof of concept, (ii) strategic technologies, (iii) green and digital transition, (iv) public-private research collaboration, (v) research and development for societal challenges and (vi) for international research collaboration.

Social and territorial cohesion

Member States have included a significant number of measures to support social and territorial cohesion, especially contributing to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights. Many RRPs include dedicated chapters on equal opportunities and access to the labour market, fair working conditions and social protection and inclusion. All RRPs also finance measures aimed at improving different types of territorial infrastructure and services, including reforms and investments to boost the competitiveness, improve transport and broadband connectivity, ensure the sustainable use of natural resources and preserve the environment, as well as to improve the performance of the public administration at local and regional level. More precisely, the 27 RRPs adopted by the Council will support this pillar with around EUR 261.2 billion 61 .

The RRPs coverage of social and territorial cohesion is more present in some plans than others, with good overall progress. In some Member States, social and territorial cohesion is incorporated in various measures across all components of the RRP. 1 064 of the 2 888 milestones and targets contributing to social and territorial cohesion are already reported as completed by Member States or assessed as fulfilled by the Commission, representing a 37% progress rate (including 20% assessed in payment requests). 322 of the milestones and targets contributing to social and territorial cohesion were assessed by the Commission as fulfilled between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024 (reporting period). The examples provided in the box below highlight key measures with completed milestones and targets during the reporting period.

Figure 20: Percentage of milestones and targets contributing to social and territorial cohesion assessed as fulfilled or reported as completed, per RRP

Source: European Commission

Examples of relevant measures with fulfilled milestones and targets under the social and territorial cohesion pillar

Reforms:

-Italy adopted a new framework law to improve the living conditions of non-self-sufficient elderly people. In particular, the law aims to simplify and provide ‘Points of Single Contact’ for social and health services, review the procedures for assessing the condition of care dependent elderly persons, and increase the set of social and health care services that may be provided at home.

-Greece certified 150 000 citizens for successfully completing training programmes on digital, green and financial literacy skills. The programmes aim to enhance labour market opportunities of youth and long-term unemployed, technologically disadvantaged employees, employees with limited training resources, and public sector employees such as teachers.

-Poland established the Green Urban Transformation Instrument to foster sustainable urban development and to address socio-economic disparities. This initiative aims to improve urban infrastructure through energy-efficient solutions (such as energy clusters and use of renewables); the promotion of nature-based solutions for the green transformation (such as green-blue infrastructures for sustainable rainwater management); and the support of zero-emission transport systems (by encouraging walking, cycling and collective transport, as well as the creation of Low Emission Zones).

Investments:

-France subsidised the thermal renovation of 20 000 additional social housing dwellings in both mainland France and the overseas territories, reaching 40 000 social dwellings since 2020. Through deep renovations of buildings, the ambition is to progressively eliminate thermal sieves and achieve at least 30% of energy savings on average by the end of 2026.

-Italy strengthened its workforce by activating a training path to enhance the skills of the Italian National Health Service. Providing an initial 1 800 scholarships, the program aims to improve general medical practice and hospital infection safety for staff members.

-Latvia renovated or rebuilt 75 km of regional and local roads with the aim to improve road safety, ensure the connectivity and functioning of the new municipalities, as well as to improve the access of citizens to jobs and services.

Health, economic and institutional resilience

RRPs contribute significantly to health, and economic, social and institutional resilience, with the aim of, inter alia, increasing crisis preparedness and crisis response capacity. More than 1 200 measures and sub-measures for about EUR 88.5 billion 62 , included in the RRPs, contribute to the policy pillar of health, and economic, social and institutional resilience. These measures cover policy areas ranging from health and long-term care to the effectiveness of judicial systems and anti-money laundering measures.

Health, economic and institutional resilience is the pillar in which most progress has been achieved so far. 1 162 of 2 503 milestones and targets contributing to health, and economic, social and institutional resilience are reported as completed by Member States or assessed as fulfilled by the Commission, which corresponds to a progress rate of 46% (including 27% assessed in payment requests). 374 of the milestones and targets contributing to health, economic and institutional resilience were assessed by the Commission as fulfilled between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024 (reporting period). The examples provided in the box below highlight key measures with completed milestones and targets during the reporting period.

Figure 21: Percentage of milestones and targets contributing to health, economic and institutional resilience assessed as fulfilled or reported as completed, per RRP

Source: European Commission

Examples of relevant measures with fulfilled milestones and targets under the health, economic and institutional resilience pillar

Reforms:

-Greece set up 48 mental health units, to support universal free access to quality mental health services. The patients of these units include children, adolescents and young adults with mental health problems, patients with dementia, Alzheimer's disease and autism, as well as people who use addictive substances and dependent individuals. In addition, the reform aims to move mental health care out of institutions and create community-based services that work together to meet current mental health needs and prepare for future challenges after the pandemic.

-Estonia amended relevant laws to strengthen primary healthcare. The legislative changes improved the management of patient lists, making it easier for patients to continue receiving primary care, and extended the rights of nurses to prescribe medicines to patients. The country also made it more attractive for doctors and pharmacists to work in remote areas.

-In Croatia, a wage–setting reform has been implemented. Starting in April 2024, all civil and public servants received salaries according to the new and more transparent remuneration system based on the principle of equal pay for equal work.

Investments:

-Belgium endorsed a deinstitutionalisation strategy for long-term care of the Walloon Region as part of a broader investment which aims at increasing the supply of social housing for vulnerable groups through the construction and energy-efficient renovation of low-rent housing, of inclusive and solidarity-based housing, as well as of homeless accommodation places.

-Denmark developed a new digital solution to make citizens and the healthcare system more connected following the COVID-19 pandemic. New digital questionnaires have been developed, covering pneumococcus, influenza and pregnancy, to allow for rapid stratification of patients in terms of vaccination needs and other medical conditions.

-Ireland awarded contracts for the procurement of a digital solution supporting the deployment of an ePharmacy system across hospitals in Ireland. This system enables authorities to better monitor the use and costs of medications, and supports electronic prescription and administration of medicines, thus improving care delivery and patient safety. Ireland also completed the design, building and configuration of an integrated financial management system to make procurement and financial management within the healthcare system more efficient.

Policies for the next generation

Measures for the next generation, children and youth focus primarily on early childhood education and care, education and training as well as measures to support youth employment. The RRPs adopted by the Council support this pillar with about EUR 56.4 billion 63 , of which around three quarters contribute to general, vocational, and higher education. The remaining quarter is almost equally split between early childhood and care and youth employment support.

Progress is also tangible for the milestones and targets contributing to policies for the next generation, children and the youth, such as education and skills. So far, 259 of 665 milestones and targets are already reported as completed by Member States or assessed as fulfilled by the Commission, which corresponds to a progress rate of 39% (including 21% assessed in payment requests). 75 of these milestones and targets contributing to policies for the next generation were assessed by the Commission as fulfilled between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024 (reporting period). The examples provided in the box below highlight key measures with completed milestones and targets during the reporting period.

Figure 22: Percentage of milestones and targets contributing to policies for the next generation assessed as fulfilled or reported as completed, per RRP

Note: The RRP of Denmark includes several milestones and targets that contribute to policies for the next generation, which are not yet assessed by the Commission as fulfilled or reported by the Member State as completed.

Source: European Commission

Examples of relevant measures with fulfilled milestones and targets under the policies for next generation pillar

Reforms:

-Slovakia introduced a state national education programme for primary and lower-secondary schools, which will bring updated curricula to classrooms. The new curriculum will be rolled out in three cycles and aims to set higher, modernised standards for key learning goals.

-The higher education governance reform entered into force in Latvia. The reform includes (i) the definition of university typologies and strategic specialisation of universities; (ii) the procedure for the establishment and approval of university councils, the competence of the councils, while clarifying the competences of the Senate, the Rector and the Constitutional Assembly; and (iii) the procedure for selecting and approving new university rectors.

-Germany strengthened the educational system through a reform to provide additional courses and mentoring to pupils with a learning backlog, with a focus on core subjects and core competences to tackle the learning disparities created by the COVID-19 crisis. EUR 500 million will also be spent to create 90 000 additional childcare places, by building new childcare facilities and refurbishing existing ones.

Investments:

-Portugal provided 600 000 laptops to pupils and teachers in primary and secondary public schools on a lending basis supporting digital education and teaching.

-Italy offered structured educational support to at least 20 000 minors aged up to 17 years, thereby combating educational poverty and supporting equal opportunities for all children in the South of Italy.

-Ireland connected 750 primary schools to high-speed broadband network through the installation of routers, thereby facilitating modern digital education. This further helps address the regional and digital disparities in Ireland through increasing connectivity in smaller and rural schools, which have historically had the lowest ratings of connectivity.

Gender and children & youth

RRPs continue to contribute significantly to gender equality and to focus on children and youth. Member States’ RRPs contain 136 (sub-)measures that altogether contribute EUR 22.0 billion 64 to gender equality. They also include 423 (sub-)measures that focus on children and youth, contributing EUR 66.6 billion 65 . These figures do not include the contribution of other reforms and investments that may not initially be regarded as policies contributing to gender equality and to children and youth but whose implementation can have a significant positive impact.

There has also been notable progress in implementing measures that contribute to gender equality and that focus on children and youth. Of the 253 milestones and targets with a focus on gender equality in the 27 RRPs, 102 are already reported by Member States as completed or assessed by the Commission as fulfilled, representing a 40% progress rate (including 22% positively assessed in payment requests). In addition, 288 of the 714 milestones and targets contributing to children and youth are already reported by Member States as completed or assessed by the Commission as fulfilled, representing a 40% progress rate (including 22% positively assessed in payment requests). 33 of the milestones and targets contributing to gender and 79 of those contributing to children and youth were assessed by the Commission as fulfilled between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024 (reporting period). The examples provided in the box below highlight key measures with completed milestones and targets during the reporting period.

Figure 23: Percentage of milestones and targets contributing to gender equality assessed as fulfilled or reported as completed, per RRP

Note: The RRPs of Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary include several milestones and targets contributing to gender equality, which are not yet assessed by the Commission as fulfilled or reported by the Member State as completed.

Source: European Commission

Figure 24: Percentage of milestones and targets with a focus on children and youth assessed as fulfilled or reported as completed, per RRP

Note: The RRP of Denmark includes several milestones and targets with a focus on children and youth, which are not yet assessed by the Commission as fulfilled or reported by the Member State as completed.

Source: European Commission

During the European Youth Week, the Commission organised an event on the impact of the RRF on young people. The European Youth Week, organised by the European Commission every two years to promote youth engagement, attracted over 900 young attendants in April 2024. The event focused on eight young people who benefited from RRF measures in various ways, alongside insights from national implementing bodies and the European Commission. For example, a young Latvian IT teacher discussed the "A Computer for Every Child" project, which provides laptops to students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition, a Slovenian designer and a PR manager explained how they were empowered and how they enhanced their social security thanks to the financial incentives for employers to hire young people on permanent contracts. Other participants shared their experiences about the modernisation of university programme in Czechia, vouchers for digital equipment in Greece, career counselling in France, and digital devices for training institutions in Spain 66 .

Examples of relevant measures with fulfilled milestones and targets contributing to gender and to children and youth

Reforms:

- Croatia has introduced a funding model to cover the running costs of both existing and newly built early childhood education and care centres for towns and local governments with limited budgets. This supports equal chances for all kids and helps carers, often women, find full-time jobs.

-Estonia developed a prototype of a digital gender pay-gap tool for employers. With this tool, employers can get the necessary information about the gender pay gap and its possible causes in their organisation, empowering them to take action to reduce the gender pay gap.

Investments:

-Italy provided financial support to the creation and/or growth of 700 enterprises led by women, supporting female entrepreneurship and strengthening women’s participation in business activities.

-Slovenia provided subsidies for the employment of 700 persons below the age of 30, thereby ensuring their faster entry into the labour market, empowering young people, enhancing their social security and improving their skills.

-Romania provided grants to 750 educational establishments most in need, to support students in view of reducing drop-out and facilitate the transition from lower to upper secondary education. Schools were selected based on five indicators defined in the Early Warning Mechanism in Education.

-France subsidised 160 000 additional apprenticeship contracts, as well as the creation of 2 200 jobs for youth in the sports sector and built or renovated 1 500 places in “boarding schools of excellence”.

D. Policies to improve competitiveness of EU businesses

RRPs contribute to improved competitiveness of EU businesses, with about three million enterprises having already benefitted from RRF support

Investments directly supporting enterprises total over EUR 82 billion, 13% of the total RRF estimated expenditure. Out of this amount, approximately EUR 78 billion is allocated to SMEs across 22 Member States. In addition, support to companies, including financial aid and digitalisation of public administration, amount to at least EUR 164 billion (25% of the total RRF estimated expenditure). RRF investments improving competitiveness cover multiple sectors, including manufacturing, automotive, energy, retail, tourism, and culture, with over EUR 110 billion invested in industry decarbonisation and clean tech, EUR 23 billion in green R&D, and over EUR 2 billion in green skills and jobs. RRF investments also foster the digital transition, benefiting nearly 600 000 companies to advance with technologies like AI and cybersecurity.

In addition to investments, the RRPs contain more than 900 reforms, across a wide range of policy areas 67 geared towards alleviating regulatory and administrative burdens and addressing challenges throughout the entire business life cycle, to maximise the impact of investments and boost the competitiveness of EU businesses. These RRP measures focus on simplifying regulations and cutting red tape that often hampers business, particularly SMEs. Competitiveness measures address challenges throughout the entire business lifecycle. The RRF helps Member States reduce the time needed to start a company, streamline and speed up licensing and permitting processes, reduce restrictions to access regulated professions, and ease and digitise the incorporation of businesses.

There has been significant progress in implementing measures related to competitiveness. Since the inception of the RRF, 1 856 of the 4 352 milestones and targets that directly contribute to growth and competitiveness of businesses are already reported by Member States as completed or assessed by the Commission as fulfilled, which represents a progress rate of nearly 43% (including 25% assessed in payment requests). 592 of these milestones and targets contributing to growth and competitiveness were assessed by the Commission as fulfilled between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024 (reporting period). The examples provided in the box below highlight key measures with completed milestones and targets during the reporting period.

Figure 25: Percentage of milestones and targets contributing to competitiveness assessed as fulfilled or reported as completed, per RRP

Source: European Commission

Examples of relevant measures with fulfilled milestones and targets contributing to competitiveness

Reforms:

-France, through the law on accelerating and simplifying public action, simplified administrative rules and procedures, including among others shortening the time needed to review industrial projects or streamlining consultative committees in order to speed up administrative decisions.

-Slovenia, through the “Debureaucratisation Act”, has helped create a growth-friendly business environment for the business sector and citizens by streamlining or removing burdensome administrative procedures. This has resulted in lower administrative costs and an increase in the competitiveness of businesses in Slovenia. It also simplified the legislation by repealing over 200 laws and by-laws that were outdated or no longer applicable.

-Croatia has made it easier for businesses to deal with regulations by moving the SME Impact Assessment Test online. This includes a digital platform that helps track how new laws affect SMEs and allows experts from across the country to work together and share knowledge. Furthermore, Croatia has rolled out a new action plan to lower extra fees and charges that businesses face, aside from taxes.

Investments:

-France introduced a funding scheme for the decarbonisation of the industry, amounting to EUR 300 million. This resulted in concrete support to companies in their decarbonisation path. For example, a textile company received EUR 917 000 to invest in more efficient industrial processes in one of its factories. This investment will reduce the energy consumption by 2 950 MWh/year, lowering the CO2 emissions by 30% each year and water consumption by 50% by 2025. A leading French cooperative in the field of dehydration replaced a high temperature dryer (150 to 600 C°), with a low temperature dryer (105 to 70 C°), recovering heat from the city waste incineration plant. This measure aims to reduce CO2 emissions on site by 40% (7 680 tonnes each year).

-Spain has progressed investments in strategic projects to transform value chains in key sectors such as automotive, agrifood, health, naval, and industry decarbonisation. At least EUR 1.2 billion have been awarded to 925 innovative projects focusing on energy efficiency, sustainability, and digital transformation. Out of them, 584 are linked to electric vehicle, health and agrifood. Notably, 266 projects support the development of components and platforms for electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen vehicles, as well as research and development in autonomous driving and connected mobility.

3.REPowerEU

The RRF is a key instrument for achieving the objectives of the REPowerEU Plan, aimed at reducing Europe’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels by accelerating the clean energy transition and achieving a more resilient energy system. The RRF Regulation was amended in February 2023 to provide additional financial resources to Member States, supporting new or scaled-up reforms and investments focused on diversifying energy supplies, increasing energy savings, increasing production of clean energy, and enhancing the resilience, security, and sustainability of the EU's energy system.

The funding of EUR 64.2 billion for REPowerEU objectives comes from various sources. EUR 20 billion in additional non-repayable financial support is provided under the RRF, raised by auctioning allowances under the Emissions Trading System. This financial support is distributed among Member States based on an updated allocation key in Annex IVa to the RRF Regulation 68 . Member States could also transfer all or part of their provisional allocation under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (‘BAR’) to the RRF for financing investments and reforms in their REPowerEU chapters. 23 Member States requested such a transfer, totalling EUR 2.1 billion 69 . To finance new investments and reforms contributing to the achievement of the REPowerEU objectives, Member States could also benefit from the highly favourable financing conditions of RRF loans. By the deadline of 31 August 2023, 10 Member States requested additional loans amounting to EUR 127.2 billion 70 , of which EUR 40.5 billion are dedicated REPowerEU measures 71

To access these additional funds, Member States revised their RRPs to include new or scaled-up reforms and investments in a dedicated ‘REPowerEU chapter’. By 31 August 2024, 26 Member States 72 had submitted their modified RRPs along with REPowerEU chapters, of which 25 were adopted by the Council 73 .

Figure 26: Estimated cost of REPowerEU chapters by Member State, in EUR million

Source: European Commission

The measures in the REPowerEU chapters must effectively address the objectives of the REPowerEU plan. More specifically, the RRF Regulation sets six objectives for reforms and investments in the REPowerEU chapter and requires that each measure contributes to at least one of them 74 :

(1)improving the energy infrastructure for security and diversification of supply for gas;

(2)boosting energy efficiency, decarbonisation of industry, deployment of renewable energy;

(3)addressing energy poverty;

(4)incentivising reduction of energy demand;

(5)addressing energy transmission and distribution bottlenecks, supporting zero-emission transport;

(6)requalification of the workforce towards green and digital skills, supporting the value chains linked to the green transition.

The Commission carefully assessed the new measures in the REPowerEU chapters, and proposed for Council adoption only those that satisfactorily complied with the assessment criteria set out in Annex V to the RRF Regulation, including the additional criteria relevant for the REPowerEU chapters: (i) contribution to the REPowerEU objectives and (ii) whether the measures have a cross-border or multi-country dimension or effect.

Beyond the REPowerEU chapters, other measures in the RRPs are also related to energy, contributing to the REPowerEU objectives and helping Europe reduce its dependency on Russian fossil fuels.

A. Overview of measures across the REPowerEU chapters

The additional REPowerEU reforms and investments address bottlenecks, help accelerating the clean energy transition and strengthening the security of energy supply

The 25 REPowerEU chapters adopted by the Council by 31 August 2024 include 261 new measures: 89 reforms and 172 investments, with a total estimated cost of EUR 64 billion. These measures all contribute to one of the REPowerEU objectives, with a prominent focus on objectives 2 and 5: measures accounting for more than 80% of the total estimated costs address objective 2 ‘boosting energy efficiency and accelerating the deployment of renewable energy’ (EUR 35.3 billion) and objective 5 ‘addressing energy transmission and distribution bottlenecks, and supporting zero-emission transport’ (EUR 17.3 billion).

Figure 27: REPowerEU allocation per REPowerEU objective, breakdown by primary policy area

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The distribution of support across the policy areas reflects the most pressing needs of Member States in their clean energy transition. Measures in the REPowerEU chapters spread over several policy areas and their contribution to REPowerEU objectives depends on the specific scope of the individual measures. Investments in renewable energy and networks account for the largest share of the REPowerEU support (47%, or about EUR 29.8 billion). These investments comprise additional capacity of renewable energy production, electricity grid developments and storage capacity. Energy efficiency measures (allocation of about EUR 8 billion) contribute to several REPowerEU objectives, with the highest contribution to REPowerEU objective 2 ‘boosting energy efficiency, decarbonisation of industry, deployment of renewable energy’. Measures which focus on improving territorial infrastructure and services (allocation of about EUR 5.7 billion) have a diverse scope but mainly focus on energy production from renewable sources at regional and local level, explaining their important contribution to REPowerEU objective 2 ‘boosting energy efficiency, decarbonisation of industry, deployment of renewable energy’. Measures linked to increasing competitiveness (allocation of about EUR 5.2 billion) aim to reduce the energy consumption of businesses and companies through different interventions (mainly energy efficiency improvements, and energy infrastructure developments) and they contribute primarily to REPowerEU objective 4 ‘incentivising reduction of energy demand’. Investments in sustainable mobility (allocation of EUR 3.4 billion) contribute to REPowerEU objective 5 ‘energy network and zero-emission transport’.

Member States' needs and challenges vary in terms of investment volumes and specific areas to be targeted to effectively contribute to the achievement of the REPowerEU objectives. In terms of their financial volume, the measures in the REPowerEU chapters focus heavily on increasing energy efficiency and on the deployment and production of energy from renewable sources in almost half of the Member States (above 70% of the total estimated cost of the REPowerEU chapters in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden). Measures addressing energy transmission and distribution bottlenecks and supporting zero-emission transport (objective 5) also represent a considerable share of the total estimated cost of the new REPowerEU measures in six Member States (above 40% of the total estimated cost of the REPowerEU chapters in Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia), with Latvia having dedicated 99% of the total estimated costs to that objective.

Three Member States included measures addressing REPowerEU objective 1, ‘improving the energy infrastructure for security and diversification of supply for gas’. The REPowerEU chapters include investments in the construction, extension and upgrade of the existing natural gas distribution system (Italy, Poland) and in increasing the LNG terminal capacity (Croatia) to diversify supply and strengthen security. The total cost for those four investments is estimated at EUR 1.6 billion 75 .

The measures included in REPowerEU chapters significantly reinforce the RRF contribution to climate objectives. More than 74% of the total estimated cost of REPowerEU measures account as climate expenditure, well above the minimum 37% requirement. This additional support under the RRF for climate action amounts to EUR 47.8 billion.

Figure 28: Share of estimated cost of measures contributing the RRF REPowerEU objectives

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

To benefit from the financial support available for the REPowerEU chapters, Member States will have to fulfil 372 milestones and 254 targets. On 5 June 2024, the first non-repayable support was disbursed to France for the fulfilment of 5 milestones and targets under REPowerEU 76 . These covered, amongst others, the selection of projects for industrial decarbonisation that will achieve an expected reduction of fossil energy consumption of 250 GWh per year and the entry into force of the Law on the acceleration of renewable energy production to speed up permitting procedures. As of 31 August 2024, 68 milestones and targets (of the total 622) have been reported as completed but not yet formally assessed by the Commission. Given the recent adoption of the REPowerEU chapters, it is still too early to assess the implementation of the new reforms and investments included therein. However, in order to contribute to the REPowerEU objectives in a timely fashion, Member States were encouraged to include mature projects into their REPowerEU chapters, ensuring accelerated implementation.

Examples of measures in the REPowerEU chapters:

Reforms:

-Spain will introduce a key reform improving permitting for renewable energy production projects and electricity network infrastructure. The reform aims to: (i) facilitate the deployment of renewable energy sources and (ii) streamline the processing of permitting applications.

-Poland will ensure faster deployment of renewables, especially onshore wind installations, thanks to far-reaching reforms to facilitate permitting, by way of introducing a single rule book, allowing for electronic applications, and ensuring transparency on available connection capacities. In total, 30 gigawatts of renewables are expected to be connected to the grid by 2026.

Investments:

-Portugal will provide support to the manufacturing capacity for strategic net-zero technologies, such as the production of solar panels in Portugal and Europe, onshore and offshore renewable technologies, electrolysers and sustainable biomethane.

-Romania will provide support to more than 120 000 homeowners to install solar panels and to more than 30 000 homeowners for energy efficiency measures – in addition to targeted support for similar investments for 14 000 energy-poor homeowners and vulnerable energy consumers.

-Belgium will facilitate the integration and import of more renewable energy in and around the North Sea, by supporting the development of an offshore energy island hub in the North Sea. This will allow the connection of at least 3.15 gigawatts of future offshore wind electricity to the onshore electricity grid.

B. Overview of measures having a cross-border or multi-country dimension included in all REPowerEU chapters

REPowerEU measures boast a strong cross-border or multi-country dimension

Cross-border and multi-country projects are crucial for achieving REPowerEU objectives in the medium term and are encouraged under the RRF. Measures with a cross-border or multi-country dimension or effect are those that contribute to securing the EU's energy supply or reducing fossil fuel dependency and/or energy demand. While RRF support to genuine cross-border infrastructure was limited, due to their complexity and execution timelines, most Member States have included in their REPowerEU chapters reforms and investments to upgrade their energy storage capacities and power grids. These reforms are designed to ease the integration of renewable energy resources and improve grid flexibility and efficiency, thereby supporting a broader EU-wide energy infrastructure. All 25 REPowerEU chapters adopted by 31 August 2024 include measures with multi-country or cross-border dimension, with a total estimated cost of EUR 48.7 billion, representing 76% of the total cost of measures in the chapters, well above the minimum 30% required by the RRF Regulation. Some of the key cross-border and multi-country dimension and projects are:

-several Member States have included cross-border electricity interconnection projects in their RRPs. For example, Belgium is constructing an artificial energy island in the North Sea, which will connect at least 3 GW of future offshore wind energy to the onshore electricity grid and facilitate the import of renewable energy from neighbouring countries. Italy is improving its internal energy infrastructure by constructing submarine cables between Sicily and Campania, and it is also upgrading the electricity transmission interconnectors with Austria and Slovenia to enhance cross border electricity flows. This will enhance energy resilience and integration of renewable energy sources,

-there are investments in gas infrastructure aimed at reducing dependency on Russian gas and ensuring energy security across the EU. For instance, Poland is expanding its gas network between Gdańsk and Gustorzyn; Croatia is increasing the capacity of the Krk LNG terminal, with connections to Hungary and Slovenia; and Italy is increasing connection with Austria and central Europe.

-some Member States, such as France and Spain, are focusing on joint investments in renewable hydrogen production (Important Projects of Common European Interest or IPCEIs), which have a cross-border dimension and aim to strengthen the hydrogen value chain across the EU. Croatia is financing renewable hydrogen projects in the context of the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley, bringing together Croatia, Slovenia and Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Italy.

A common feature of all these projects is that their ultimate objective is to reduce the energy demand, reduce the use of fossil fuels and ensure security of energy supply, thus making a major contribution to the REPowerEU objectives. Information on the REPowerEU chapters of the RRP is also available on the REPowerEU section of the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard 77 .

4.Conclusion

Fulfilment of milestones and targets and disbursements of RRF funds have accelerated following the delays experienced in 2023. Whilst Member States’ and the Commission’s efforts in 2023 were geared towards the revisions of RRPs in response to the REPowerEU plan, the pace of disbursement has subsequently picked up. By 31 August 2024, over 40% of the available RRF funds have been disbursed, with EUR 265.4 billion disbursed to 25 Member States. In the reporting period 78 alone, the Commission assessed 908 milestones and targets as satisfactorily fulfilled in 27 payment requests and subsequently disbursed EUR 112 billion to Member States. If the current pace is maintained, the Commission expects to have disbursed more than EUR 300 billion by end of 2024. Furthermore, 85% of the milestones and targets due by the first quarter of 2024 have either been assessed by the Commission as fulfilled or self-reported by Member States as completed.

The efficacy of the RRF and of its performance-based approach has been confirmed in the RRF mid-term evaluation. The report, published in February 2024, underlined that both the disbursement of funds against implementation progress and the support of combined reforms and investments were the most successful features of the RRF, often with mutually reinforcing impacts. Member States and stakeholders expressed support for the performance-based nature of the RRF, thanks to the predictability and accountability it provides. The evaluation also noted the impact of swift disbursements of RRF funds in supporting Member States in times of crisis and maintaining the level of public investment, while the unique combination of investments and reforms helps European economies to become better equipped for the green and digital transition and for the future.

Following the mid-term evaluation of the RRF, the Commission has intensified its efforts to simplify and accelerate implementation. The Commission adopted on 19 July 2024 an updated Guidance on RRPs, to enhance the efficiency in implementing the Facility and simplify the reporting requirements for Member States. The updated guidance provides further clarity on the possibility to amend an RRP under the RRF Regulation and the scope for amendments that can be made to an RRP in case of objective circumstances. It also provides greater clarity regarding the conditions under which support from the RRF and other EU funds can be combined to enhance synergies.

With only a bit more than two years remaining before the expiry of the RRF by the end of 2026, all Member States’ and institutions’ efforts should focus on the full and timely implementation of the Facility. Possible implementation bottlenecks must be addressed and RRPs should be adapted where relevant to cater for emerging and evolving challenges. The Commission will continue to work with Member States and key partners to fully use the opportunities provided by the RRF to swiftly deliver the reforms and investments addressing the key challenges of our time to advance the green and digital transition and to further strengthen the resilience and the competitiveness of the European Union.

(1)

Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility .

(2)

Regulation (EU) 2024/795 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 February 2024 establishing the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP).

(3)

Thanks to the STEP Regulation, Member States are now able to channel an additional amount of up to 6% of the total RRF allocation to the Invest EU Member State compartment for actions contributing to the STEP objectives, on top of the 4% already allowed by the RRF Regulation. Furthermore, when Member States revise their RRPs, they will need to consider as a priority projects with a STEP Seal.

(4)

The information provided in this report is based on the content of the adopted plans as assessed by the Commission, on the data reported by Member States until April 2024 as part of their bi-annual reporting obligations, on data from the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard as of 31 August 2024, and on developments in the implementation of the Facility until 31 August 2024, unless otherwise specified.

(5)

See Article 21d of the RRF Regulation .

(6)

See Annex II of the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and Council (COM(2023) 99 final)

(7)

See Commission Implementing Decision of 19.7.2024 on the partial suspension of the disbursement of the fourth instalment of the non-repayable support for Spain .

(8)

See Commission Implementing Decision of 26.7.2024 on the partial suspension of the disbursement of the fifth instalment of the non-repayable support for Italy .

(9)

See Commission Implementing Decision of 22.12.2023 on the partial suspension of the disbursement of the third and fourth instalments of the non-repayable support for Portugal .

(10)

See Commission implementing Decision of 21.9.2023 on the partial suspension of the disbursement of the second instalment of the loan support to Romania .

(11)

See Commission Implementing Decision of 28.4.2023 on the partial suspension of the disbursement of the first instalment of the non-repayable support for Lithuania .

(12)

See Positive preliminary assessment of the satisfactory fulfilment of milestones and targets related to the first payment request submitted by Belgium on 29 September 2023, transmitted to the Economic and Financial Committee by the European Commission .

(13)

Note that the Commission’s preliminary assessment had not yet been reviewed by the Economic and Financial Committee at the time of writing and the Commission Implementing Decision on the partial suspension had thus not yet been adopted by the cut-off date of this annual report, i.e. 31 August 2024. The Commission Implementing Decision on the partial suspension of the disbursement of the first instalment of the non-repayable support to Belgium was adopted on 16 September 2024.

(14)

See Commission Implementing Decision of 6.5.2024 on the reduction of the amount of the first instalment of the non-repayable support for Lithuania .

(15)

See Commission Implementing Decision of 26.7.2024 amending Commission Implementing Decision (C2023) 9290 of 22.12.2023 on the authorisation of the disbursement of the third and fourth instalment of the non-repayable support and the third and fourth instalment of the loan support for Portugal .

(16)

The difference between these two amounts corresponds to the amount in available RRF loan support not requested by Member States. Given that the deadline for requesting loan support has now expired, under the current legal framework, these remaining funds will not be raised by the Commission on the financial markets to fund these loans.

(17)

In line with Article 11(2) of the RRF Regulation , the maximum financial contribution for non-repayable financial support of each Member State was updated in June 2022 on the basis of Eurostat outturn data on the change in real GDP growth over 2020 and the aggregate change in real GDP for the period 2020-2021.

(18)

Member States could request (additional) loan support until 31 August 2023, as stipulated in Article 14(2) of the RRF Regulation . Of the overall envelope of EUR 385.8 billion available for loan support under the RRF, close to EUR 291 billion have been committed by end-2023.

(19)

The analysis in this section answers a recommendation by the European Parliament made in the context of the 2021 discharge procedure.

(20)

Given the importance of social spending in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, the RRF Regulation empowered the Commission to adopt a delegated act establishing a methodology to report on estimated social expenditure, including on children and the youth, under the RRF (Article 29(4)b). The methodology adopted by the Commission classifies all estimated expenditure financed by the Facility relating to reforms and investments into nine broad policy areas, which are then aggregated into four social categories: (1) employment and skills, (2) education and childcare, (3) health and long-term care, and (4) social policies; see Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2105 .

(21)

The Regulation also specifies what information should be published by the Member States, namely the full name of the recipient, the VAT or tax identification number (or a different unique identifier) in case of a legal person, the amount received and the associated measures for which the recipient has received funding.

(22)

This is in line with the RRF Regulation, where Article 22(2)(d) mentions final recipients as separate entities from contractors and sub-contractors, thus ensuring a consistent interpretation application of the term throughout the RRF Regulation.

(23)

https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/disbursements.html?table=finalRecipientByCountry

(24)

European Parliament decision of 11 April 2024 on the closure of the accounts of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022, Section III – Commission, §286(xiii).

(25)

These exemptions include the following four cases: (i) education supports paid to natural persons and any other direct support paid to natural persons most in need, (ii) very low value contracts below EUR 15 000, (iii) financial support provided through financial instruments for an amount lower than EUR 500 000, and (iv) where disclosure risks threatening the rights and freedoms of the persons or entities concerned or harming the commercial interests of the recipients.

(26)

In line with Article 25a of the RRF Regulation , Member States are not required to specify whether final recipients are public or private entities. Therefore, the figures presented here are based on the European Commission’s own estimates.

(27)

These figures are based on the pillar tagging methodology developed for the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whereby each measure in the RRPs is attributed to a primary and to a secondary policy area to reflect that measures can contribute to more than one policy objective. The six policy pillars are: green transition; digital transformation; smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; social and territorial cohesion; health, and economic, social and institutional resilience; policies for the next generation.

(28)

These audits concern payment requests submitted by Germany, Estonia, Greece, France, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia.

(29)

The risk assessment is based on a number of criteria, such as the type and number of implementing authorities, the type and number of final recipients, the tagging applied, and the complexity of the verification mechanism.

(30)

System audits were undertaken in Belgium, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Slovakia.

(31)

ARACHNE is an IT tool for data mining and data enrichment developed by the European Commission. ARACHNE helps identifying the projects drawing on several EU funds where a potential risk of double funding exists. It shows beneficiaries, contractors, subcontractor, partners, and consortium members involved in multiple projects irrespective of their role in the various projects.

(32)

They cover inter alia the green transition and digital transformation dimensions of the RRF, the absorption of RRF funds, labour market and, separately, business environment reforms included in the RRPs, the Member States’ control systems, and the prevention of double funding between the RRF, Cohesion Policy and Connecting Europe Facility. Other performance audits and reviews may also touch on the RRF or RRF supported measures. All ECA special reports are complemented by official replies of the Commission, which are public and available on the website of the ECA .

(33)

See ECA Special report 03/2024: The rule of law in the EU – An improved framework to protect the EU’s financial interests, but risks remain

(34)

See ECA Special Report 21/2022: The Commission’s assessment of national recovery and resilience plans ; ECA Special Report 07/2023: Design of the Commission’s control system for the RRF ; ECA Special report 26/2023: The Recovery and Resilience Facility’s performance monitoring framework ; ECA’s Annual Report concerning the 2021 financial year and ECA’s Annual Report concerning the 2022 financial year.

(35)

These auditors include the Commission’s Internal Audit Service, the European Court of Auditors, the European Council, and the European Parliament.

(36)

See Commission Notice – Guidance on recovery and resilience plans (C/2024/4618) .

(37)

The RRF legal framework provides for three distinct grounds under which the Commission may engage in reductions and recoveries: (1) cases of fraud, corruption, and conflict of interests affecting the financial interests of the Union; (2) cases of serious breach of an obligation of the Financing Agreement or Loan Agreement; (3) cases where the information and justification underlying a payment request is found to be incorrect.

(38)

The 16th Recovery and Resilience Dialogue took place on 16 September 2024, i.e. after this annual report’s cut-off date.

(39)

Information provided to the European Parliament or to the Council on the Recovery and Resilience Plans .

(40)

Register of Commission Expert Groups and Other Similar Entities Commission, Informal expert group on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (E03772) .

(41)

Flash Eurobarometer 515: EU Recovery Plan 'NextGenerationEU'

(42)

Standard Eurobarometer 101 - Spring 2024 - May 2024 - - Eurobarometer survey (europa.eu)

(43)

The Technical Support Instrument (TSI) is the EU programme that provides tailor-made technical expertise to EU Member States to design and implement reforms. For further information, please see https://commission.europa.eu/funding-tenders/find-funding/eu-funding-programmes/technical-support-instrument/technical-support-instrument-tsi_en .

(44)

See https://commission.europa.eu/business-economy-euro/economic-recovery/recovery-and-resilience-facility_en#map .

(45)

European Commission Better Regulation Guidelines (2021), available at: https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2021-11/swd2021_305_en.pdf .

(46)

The consortium comprised of CEPS, ECORYS, NIESR, CSIL and Wavestone.

(47)

https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html

(48)

The simulations results depend on the assumptions made regarding productivity and additionality of the financed investment projects; however, they do not take into account the impact of reforms, which have the potential to further increase European growth in the long term.

(49)

Available at: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8868-2024-INIT/en/pdf .

(50)

Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:C_202404618 .

(51)

Annex II lists monitoring steps: these are additional non-binding steps where national administrations have to provide additional information on the implementation of the relevant measures. As these monitoring steps are non-binding and not mandatory under the RRF Regulation, the inclusion of Annex II in the operational agreement is optional.

(52)

As analysed in detail in the mid-term evaluation, methodological caveats apply to the common indicators. While their purpose is to report on the overall performance and progress of the RRF towards its objectives, they do not comprehensively cover all investments included in the RRPs and do not fully capture the contribution of reforms, which is difficult to measure using quantitative indicators. The collection methodology of the common indicators’ underlying data makes it at times impossible to disentangle their specific origin and contribution to RRF objectives, particularly as there is no comparison point (counterfactual in the absence of the RFF). Furthermore, the common indicators do not include final target values, which limits their use in the context of an evaluation and in determining RRF effectiveness. This point has been echoed by feedback received from Member States.

(53)

The RRF Regulation requires Member States to report to the Commission on the common indicators and empowers the Commission to specify the common indicators to be used for this reporting. The Commission Delegated Regulation 2021/2106 defines the 14 indicators in question. There are two types of indicators. Output indicators measure the specific deliverables of an RRF-supported activity or project (e.g. additional operational capacity installed for renewables). Result indicators capture a change in the situation and its effects to the beneficiaries (e.g. people benefiting from new public digital services, or trainings). Out of the 14 common indicators, 4 are disaggregated by gender. Member States report bi-annually on these common indicators by 28 February (covering the reporting period of July and December of the previous year) and by 31 August (covering the reporting period of January to June of the same year). The Commission publishes the common indicators data on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard , after performing data checks to ensure plausibility and comparability of the data. In line with the requirements of the Commission Delegated Regulation, where data are published at the level of each Member State, these are presented in relative terms. However, The Commission has no legal basis to audit or verify the quality of the data submitted by Member States nor to alter or refuse specific reporting by Member States. The Commissions checks are limited to overall plausibility and comparability of the data.

(54)

https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html

(55)

Eurostat data on Supply, transformation and consumption of electricity in 2023, see https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/nrg_cb_e/default/table?lang=en .

(56)

Some Member States have estimated gender disaggregation as real data was challenging to collect or not collected at all.

(57)

According to the figures of the spring 2024 bi-annual reporting round. In line with Article 27 of the RRF Regulation , Member States must report twice a year in the context of the European Semester on the progress made in the implementation of their RRPs. The Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2106 further specifies this obligation, setting the deadlines for the bi-annual reporting at no later than by 30 April and 15 October. Member States report their progress in achieving their milestones and targets due in the past and due twelve months into the future. Whilst the data is self-reported by the Member States and not verified by the Commission, it provides a comprehensive stocktaking on the implementation of all plans and enables the monitoring of progress in implementing the RRPs. Milestones and targets which have already been assessed as satisfactorily fulfilled by the Commission in the context of a payment request are classified as ‘fulfilled’. The progress status of each backward-looking milestone and target (i.e. those planned to be achieved up to the quarter before the reporting date) can be classified as either ‘completed’ or ‘not completed’. The status of forward-looking milestones and targets (i.e. those planned to be achieved in the quarter of the reporting date and the three following quarters) milestones and targets can be classified as ‘completed’, ‘on track’, or ‘delayed’.

(58)

This figure shows cost estimates based on the pillar tagging methodology for the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard and corresponds to the measures allocated to the green transition pillar as primary and/or secondary policy pillar.

(59)

This figure shows cost estimates based on the pillar tagging methodology for the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard and corresponds to the measures allocated to the digital transformation pillar as primary and/or secondary policy pillar.

(60)

This figure shows cost estimates based on the pillar tagging methodology for the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard and corresponds to the measures allocated to the smart, sustainable and inclusive growth pillar as primary and/or secondary policy pillar.

(61)

This figure shows cost estimates based on the pillar tagging methodology for the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard and corresponds to the measures allocated to the social and territorial cohesion pillar as primary and/or secondary policy pillar.

(62)

This figure shows cost estimates based on the pillar tagging methodology for the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard and corresponds to the measures allocated to the health, economic and institutional resilience pillar as primary and/or secondary policy pillar.

(63)

This figure shows cost estimates based on the pillar tagging methodology for the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard and corresponds to the measures allocated to the policies for the next generation pillar as primary and/or secondary policy pillar.

(64)

This figure shows cost estimates based on the pillar tagging methodology for the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard and corresponds to the share of measures with a focus on gender equality.

(65)

This figure shows cost estimates based on the pillar tagging methodology for the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard and corresponds to the share of measures with a focus on children and youth.

(66)

For further information, see the factsheet available at https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/c6550656-98f3-472d-a6d7-6ae2a0620de8_en?filename=240425-RRF_supporting_young_people-FACTSHEET_v6.pdf .

(67)

The following RRF policy areas are considered to contribute to competitiveness: Business Environment/ Entrepreneurship; Business Infrastructure; Competitiveness; Effectiveness of Judicial Systems; Effectiveness of Public Administration and National Systems, including Minimising Administrative Burden; E-Government, Digital Public Services (Including Digitalisation of Transport) and Local Digital Ecosystems; Financial Sector Reforms; Fiscal Policy and Fiscal Governance; Fraud Prevention; Regulatory Changes for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth; Research, Development and Innovation; Support to Large Enterprises; Support to SMEs.

(68)

For the additional non-repayable support available per Member State see Table 11 of the RRF Annual Report 2023 (COM(2023) 545 final/2) .

(69)

For further details see Table 12 of the RRF Annual Report 2023 (COM(2023) 545 final/2) .

(70)

This represents 43.7% of the total loan amount (EUR 291 billion) requested by Member States for their national RRP

(71)

For further details see Table 7 of the RRF Annual Report 2023 (COM(2023) 545 final/2) .

(72)

At the time of writing, Bulgaria had not yet submitted its REPowerEU chapter.

(73)

Luxembourg submitted its REPowerEU chapter on 16 May 2024. The Commission issued a positive assessment of Luxembourg’s revised plan including the REPowerEU chapter on 23 July 2024 and the revised plan was adopted by the Council on 23 September 2024.

(74)

Article 21c(3) of the RRF Regulation

(75)

The Commission concluded in the country-specific assessments that these measures fulfilled the requirements for derogation from ’do no significant harm’ principle in line with Article 21c (6) of the Regulation 2021/241, to safeguard the EU’s immediate energy security.

(76)

Member States could request pre-financing of the REPowerEU allocation until the end of 2023, amounting to 20% of the additional funding. To frontload the financial support for their REPowerEU measures, EUR 10.4 billion were disbursed to the 21 Member States that requested it (Sweden and the Netherlands did not request pre-financing).

(77)

See https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/rePowerEu.html .

(78)

From 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 10.10.2024

COM(2024) 474 final

ANNEX

to the

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility

ANNEX I – Recovery and Resilience Plans in the EU Member States

Belgium

Table 1: Key facts of the Belgian RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 5.03 billion in grants and EUR 264 million in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 0.9% of Belgium’s GDP 1 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 915.2 million has been disbursed to Belgium under the RRF, comprising EUR 872.2 million in grants and EUR 43 million in loans.

Belgium still has EUR 4.38 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 230 2 milestones and targets included in the CID 3 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Belgium’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies, and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 145.1 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 25 January 2024. This helped launch relevant reforms like the reform of the appeal procedures of the Council of State, which aims at accelerating the deployment of renewable energy in Belgium by removing administrative bottlenecks linked to investments in renewable energy.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, devoting 50.8% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 27% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to reskilling and upskilling measures.

With a significantly delayed implementation of its RRP, Belgium was awaiting the disbursement of its first payment request.

As of 31 August 2024, the Commission had adopted a preliminary assessment of Belgium’s first payment request. The corresponding disbursement will take place soon. The Commission was also assessing Belgium’s second payment request.

Figures 1 and 2 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard.

Figure 1: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 2: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Bulgaria

Table 2: Key facts of the Bulgarian RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 5.69 billion in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 6.1% of Bulgaria’s GDP 4 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 1.37 billion has been disbursed to Bulgaria under the RRF.

Bulgaria still has EUR 4.3 billion available in grants from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of future fulfilment of the remaining 299 milestones and targets included in the CID 5 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Bulgaria is working on the elaboration of a REPowerEU chapter to be added to its RRP, to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. Once submitted, assessed, and adopted, it will contribute to ensuring the supply of affordable, secure, and sustainable energy.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 57.1% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 23.1% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to health and long-term care.

With one payment request completed, Bulgaria’s implementation of its RRP is significantly delayed. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Bulgaria’s payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 1.37 billion being disbursed in financial support on 16 December 2022 6 . The related 22 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments towards decarbonising the energy sector, promoting large-scale deployment of digital infrastructure, reforming the judicial system, strengthening the anti-money laundering framework, digitalising the public sector, strengthening the adequacy and coverage of the minimum income scheme.

Figure 3: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

As of 31 August 2024, the Commission was working in collaboration with Bulgaria to assess its second payment request.

Figure 3 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Bulgaria

Reform:

By amending the Higher Education Act, Bulgaria introduced fee exemptions for students who sign a traineeship agreement with an employer, new programmes targeting sectors with expected labour market shortages, as well as an updated system of accreditation of higher education institutions.

Investment:

Two contracts for the development of the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) system of the Ministry of the Interior were signed in 2022, following open and competitive tenders. The TETRA system will be used as a unified radiocommunication system to provide a communication environment for management, interaction and coordination in the Ministry of Interior as well as other government structures responsible for crisis prevention accidents, disasters and national security issues. The investment will help increase the number of subscribers of the TETRA system by 14 000 and improve the capacity and quality of services. TETRA radio coverage is expected to reach 90% for portable TETRA radio terminals and 95% for mobile TETRA radio terminals in Bulgaria.

Czechia

Table 3: Key facts of the Czech RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 8.4 billion in grants and EUR 818 million in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 3% of Czechia’s GDP 7 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 2.69 billion of grants has been disbursed to Czechia under the RRF.

Czechia still has EUR 6.5 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of future fulfilment of the remaining 276 milestones and targets included in the CID 8 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the Facility.

Czechia’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies, and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 147.09 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 21 December 2023. This helped launch relevant reforms like facilitating the Renovation Wave by supporting and advising households, businesses and public sector entities in the renovation of their buildings.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 42.9% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 22.8% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to increasing the resilience of healthcare and social services, be it through building new hospitals and social care facilities, acquiring new medical equipment, strengthening cancer screening programmes or rolling out e-Health.

With two payment requests completed, Czechia’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Czechia’s first payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 928 million being disbursed in financial support on 22 March 2023 9 . The related 37 milestones and targets covered reforms in the areas of school curricula to promote digital literacy and digital skills, of eHealth, and of the country's audit and control system for the implementation of the RRF, as well as major investments for the reconstruction of three railway bridges and 45 safer railway level crossings, as well as digital tools for education.

The most recent payment request, which the Commission positively assessed on 19 February 2024, has led to the disbursement of EUR 702 million on 2 April 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 28 milestones and targets covering building high-capacity Internet networks, sustainable mobility and e-administration.

As of 31 August 2024, Czechia was working towards its third payment request.

Figures 4 and 5 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Figure 4: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 5: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard
Examples fulfilled milestones and targets for Czechia Reform: Czechia adopted a law enhancing coordination amongst internet and utility companies, through the creation of a database. Internet companies will be able to identify ongoing or planned construction sites for high-capacity networks. This will make the building of internet networks in Czechia cheaper, faster, and more efficient and thus help Czechia address its internet connectivity issues. Investment: To help prevent future environmental crisis, such as pest outbreaks or forest fire, the Czech plan has funded the reforestation of more than 12 000 hectares and the construction of 40 forest reservoirs for water retention. The restoration of 24 000 more hectares will be funded by 2026.

Denmark

Table 4: Key facts of the Danish RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 1.6 billion in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 0.4 % of Denmark’s GDP 10 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 0.96 billion in grants has been disbursed to Denmark under the RRF.

Denmark still has EUR 0.67 billion available in grants from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 50 milestones and targets included in the CID 11 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Denmark’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 39.3 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 21 December 2023. This helped launch relevant reforms like the simplification of administrative and permitting procedures for the roll-out of district heating projects and the deployment of wind and solar energy on land as well as the deployment of offshore wind energy and the green upskilling of the labour force.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 69% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 27% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with measures especially related to the healthcare system.

With two payment requests completed, Denmark’s implementation of its RRP is well underway. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Denmark’s first payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 301 million being disbursed in financial support on 27 April 2023 12 . The related 25 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as the green tax reform in support of the green and digital transition of businesses and a reform for a more digital health system. Several milestones and targets also concerned major investments in the

Figure 6: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

fields of green transition of agriculture and environment, energy efficiency, clean vehicles and ferries, and research.

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 29 February 2024, led to the disbursement of EUR 422 million on 22 April 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 18 milestones and targets covering several reforms in the areas of digitalisation of healthcare administration, energy efficiency, cybersecurity, healthcare, as well as research and innovation for the green transition.

As of 31 August 2024, Denmark was working towards its third payment request.

Figure 6 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Examples fulfilled milestones and targets for Denmark

Reform:

A new Digital Strategy has been in place since May 2022, with some aspects still being rolled out. It will deliver: (i) an improved digital public sector which will start using artificial intelligence (seven new AI projects by 2025); (ii) financial support to digitalise at least 500 SMEs and deliver more candidates for the jobs of the future; (iii) better conditions for public innovation thanks to public-private partnerships; (iv) new safe and secure solutions to store and reuse personal information; (v) a new, stronger cyber and information security strategy.

Investment:

Combustion-engine cars are a major source of pollution and CO2 emissions. Through an increased scrapping premium, at least 19 000 additional old diesel cars have been taken off the road by 2021.

Germany

Table 5: Key facts of the German RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 30.3 billion in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 0.7% of Germany’s GDP 13 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 6.25 billion has been disbursed to Germany under the RRF.

Germany still has EUR 24.05 billion available in grants from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of future fulfilment of the remaining 108 milestones and targets included in the CID 14 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Germany’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter, to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. The chapter will contribute to ensuring the supply of affordable, secure, and sustainable energy.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 52.6% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 47.5% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to social cohesion and education.

With one payment request completed, Germany’s implementation of its RRP is significantly delayed. The Commission gave a positive assessment of the payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 4 billion being disbursed in financial support on 28 December 2023 15 . The related 36 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as the completion of projects related to electro-mobility and charging infrastructure, research in hydrogen and the roll-out of hydrogen-related projects, support for microelectronics, and the digitalisation of railways, and others in the areas of promoting the digitalisation and the efficiency of public administration as well as the acceleration of the planning and approval procedures in the transport sector, the development of vaccines, and the support for childcare and apprenticeships.

Figure 7: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

As of 31 August 2024, Germany was working towards its second payment request.

Figure 7 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Germany

Reform:

Through the Online Access Act (“Onlinezugangsgesetz”), 70 public services have been made available online (including services linked to health insurance, pension rights and the driving licence), thereby enhancing the efficiency of public administration by digitalising public services for citizens and businesses. In total, once the reform is fully implemented, citizens will be newly able to use online 100 Länder services and 115 Federal services.

Investment:

The German plan contributes to the digitalisation of the railway in the context of the ‘Digital Rail Germany’ initiative and the ‘fast track’ programme to accelerate it. This initiative gathers public and private stakeholders (including the Federal Railway Authority (EBA), research and technical organizations and industry) in order to develop standardized, interoperable and modular components for the digitalisation of railway operations. The plan has funded seven pilot projects with solutions to replace old signal boxes and level crossing protection systems with new-generation digital security systems.

Estonia

Table 6: Key facts of the Estonian RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 953.2 million in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 2.5% of Estonia’s GDP 16 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 0.5 billion has been disbursed to Estonia under the RRF.

Estonia still has EUR 450 million available in grants from RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 86 milestones and targets included in the CID 17 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Estonia’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies, and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 18 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 13 December 2023. This helped launch relevant reforms like accelerating the decarbonisation of the energy system and supporting the transition to renewable energy.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 59.5% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 24.1% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to improving the accessibility and resilience of the health system, improving the social safety net and access to social services.

With two payment requests completed, Estonia’s implementation of its RRP is well underway. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Estonia’s first payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 0.2 billion being disbursed in financial support on 6 November 2023 18 . The related 28 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as projects related to green skills to support the green transition of enterprises, as well as the creation and development of a centre of excellence for data governance, and others in the areas of skills for the digital

Figure 8: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

transformation of businesses, the competitiveness of enterprises in foreign markets and the provision of long-term care.

The recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 12 March 2024, led to the disbursement of EUR 100 million on 19 April 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 18 milestones and targets covering the development of proactive digital public services for individuals, investment projects on green hydrogen integrated value chains, as well as renewable energy production, supply solutions, and final consumption in different application areas, among others.

As of 31 August 2024, Estonia was working towards its third payment request.

Figure 8 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Examples fulfilled milestones and targets for Estonia

Reform:

As a first step of the reform, the Strategic Framework for addressing health workforce shortages has been approved in Estonia and the Decrees of the Minister of Health and Labour amending the reimbursement system for doctors and pharmacists have entered into force. When the reform will be fully implemented, it will help Estonian health system to gain resilience, especially during crises, and ensure population’s access to high-quality and integrated healthcare throughout the country.

Investment:

Estonia has signed the contract for the construction of a new health centre in the city of Viljandi, consisting of a general hospital and a primary health care centre. The investment will improve the access to health care as well the provision of health and social care in Central part of Estonia.

Ireland

Table 7: Key facts of the Irish RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 1.15 billion in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 0.2% of Ireland’s GDP 19 . As of 31 August, EUR 323.8 has been disbursed to Ireland.

Ireland still has EUR 830 million available in grants from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of fulfilment of the remaining 78 milestones and targets included in the CID 20 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Ireland’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. The chapter will contribute to ensuring the supply of affordable, secure, and sustainable energy.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 50.2% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 34.2% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to support for reskilling and upskilling of workers and social and affordable housing.

With one payment request completed, the implementation of Ireland’s RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Ireland’s first payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 323.8 billion being disbursed in financial support on 11 July 2024 21 . The related 40 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as an amended carbon tax, high-speed connectivity and ICT infrastructure for schools and investments to support upskilling and reskilling of workers.

As of 31 August 2024, Ireland was working towards its second payment request.

Figure 9: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Figure 9 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Ireland

Reform:

Ireland has implemented an ambitious carbon tax reform through the entry into force of the legislation introducing the annual tax rate increases, which includes a long-term carbon price signal that will lead to a rate of EUR 100 per tonne of CO2 emissions in 2030. This will help decarbonise the economy by disincentivising the use of fossil fuels and encourage the use of renewable energy by industry and society, as well as foster energy efficiency gains.

Investment:

With the deep retrofit refurbishment of the public office building Tom Johnson House and at Kilcairn, Ireland is carrying out modernisation upgrades to significantly reduce their carbon footprint and prolong their useful lifespan.

Greece

Table 8: Key facts of the Greek RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 18.2 billion in grants and EUR 17.7 billion in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 16.3% of Greece’s GDP 22 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 17.2 billion has been disbursed to Greece under the RRF, comprising EUR 7.6 billion in grants and EUR 9.6 billion in loans.

Greece still has EUR 18.7 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 294 milestones and targets included in the CID 23 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Greece’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies, and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 158.7 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 25 January 2024. This helped launch relevant reforms, including the facilitation of production of renewable hydrogen and bio-methane, optimisation of land and sea space usage for the development of renewables, and the promotion of energy sharing, energy communities and self-consumption.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 38.1% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 22.1% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to fostering labour market activation and upskilling for employees and those unemployed.

With four payment requests completed, Greece’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Greece’s first, second, and third payment requests for non-repayable support and for loans, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 3.6 billion being disbursed in financial support on 8 April 2022; EUR 3.6 billion on 19 January 2023; and EUR 3.6 billion on 28 December 2023 24 . The related 86 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as those related to the Loan Facility, to make the electricity market fit for a high share of renewables, develop a modern railway network, promote a greener public bus fleet., and others in the areas of energy efficiency, waste management, labour market, taxation policy, business environment, public administration, and healthcare.

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 16 July 2024, led to the disbursement of EUR 2.3 billion on 23 July 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of one target, i.e. further progress in the delivery of the Loan Facility. This measure aims to mobilise private investments in areas such as the green and digital transitions, increasing export capacity, and research, development and innovation.

As of 31 August 2024, the Commission was assessing Greece’s fourth payment request for non-repayable financial support.

Figures 10 and 11 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Figure 10: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 11: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Greece

Reform:

Greece completed the first phase of a reform of the public administration, by simplifying and digitalising state procedures across a number of policy areas such as justice, citizenship, health and social welfare, transportation and logistics, shipping, and tourism, along with the upgrades and functional enhancements of relevant systems necessary to support the efficient execution of the new digitalised processes.

Investment:

Greece is implementing a comprehensive strategy to increase the number of charging points for electric vehicles. To complement a previous reform that establishes a legal framework on the functioning of the electric vehicles’ market, Greece has launched a programme that supports local authorities and the private sector in installing of at least 4 500 charging points with at least 300 000 kW power capacity.

Spain

Table 9: Key facts of the Spanish RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 79.85 billion in grants and EUR 83.2 billion in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 11.2% of Spain’s GDP 25 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 48.3 billion has been disbursed to Spain under the RRF, comprising EUR 47.96 billion in grants and EUR 340 million in loans.

Spain still has EUR 114.7 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 414 milestones and targets included in the CID 26 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the Facility.

Spain’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 1.38 billion was disbursed as pre-financing on 1 February 2024. This helped launch relevant reforms like streamlining permitting procedures for renewable energy projects.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 39.8% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 25.9% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to upskill and reskill workers.

With four payment requests completed, Spain’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Spain’s first, second, and third payment requests, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 10 billion being disbursed in financial support on 27 December 2021, EUR 12 billion on 29 July 2022; and EUR 6 billion on 31 March 2023 27 . The related 121 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as reforms of tax measures contributing to the ecological transition, and others in the areas of digitalisation, healthcare, education, taxation, labour market, and sustainability.

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 19 July 2024, has led to the disbursement of EUR 9.9 billion on 26 July 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 60 out of 61 milestones and targets covering reforms in areas including the green and digital transition, smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, and economic, institutional and social resilience and territorial cohesion, such as pension reform and unemployment support; and investments in areas including the digital and green transition, research, development and innovation, as well as education and vocational training. The outstanding target on business digitalisation had not been satisfactorily fulfilled. The Commission therefore activated the ‘payment suspension' procedure, as envisaged in Article 24(6) of the RRF Regulation. Upon provision of evidence within the period stipulated in the provisions of the RRF Regulation, the Commission will assess the satisfactory fulfilment of the target and, if appropriate, lift the suspension of the payment.

As of 31 August 2024, Spain was working towards its fifth payment request.

Figures 12 and 13 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Figure 12: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 13: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Spain

Reform:

Spain adopted two laws that will simplify procedures for setting up a business, promote diversified sources of finance for business growth, enhance and facilitate the creation of a favourable framework for the creation and growth of highly innovative start-ups as well as attract foreign entrepreneurs and investors.

Investment:

Spain has advanced in investing to increase the overall provision of vocational educational training (VET), taking into account business needs and effectively responding to sectoral needs, with the accumulated creation of at least 1 667 new VET groups.

France

Table 10: Key facts of the French RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 40.3 billion in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 1.4% of France’s GDP 28 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 30.9 billion have been disbursed to France under the RRF.

France still has EUR 9.4 billion available in grants from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 49 milestones and targets included in the CID 29 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

France’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 564.3 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 13 December 2023. This helped launch relevant reforms like accelerating the deployment of renewable energy projects through streamlined permitting procedures.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 49.5% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 21.6% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to education, unemployment, or skills mismatches.

With three payment requests completed, France’s implementation of its RRP is well underway. The Commission gave a positive assessment of France’s first and second payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 7.4 billion being disbursed in financial support on 4 March 2022 and EUR 10.3 billion on 22 December 2023 30 . The related 93 milestones covered reforms and investments in the areas of public finance, housing, mobility, unemployment insurance, skills, and health, as well as France’s audit and control system for the implementation of the RRF.

Figure 14: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 30 May 2024, led to the disbursement of EUR 7.5 billion on 5 June 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 39 milestones and targets, among which REPowerEU measures, including reforms related to the acceleration of renewable energy production, the implementation of the Research Programming Law and the setting up of the Secretariat General for Ecological Planning. The payment request also covers investments in the energy renovation of public and private buildings, the decarbonisation of industry, improving connectivity, supporting railways and the electrification of harbour docks.

As of 31 August 2024, France was working towards its fourth payment request.

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for France

Reform:

France adopted the Law on the acceleration of renewable energy production, which aims to speed-up the uptake of renewable energy in order to achieve France’s energy transition objectives. The reform defined ‘acceleration zones’ that are to be prioritised for renewables development, enabled the launch of public debates on the acceleration of off-shore wind planning, simplified the installation of photovoltaic panels and reinforced the development of collective self-consumption.

Investment:

France has connected over five million additional households and business premises to the high-speed broadband network, which provides high quality connections with speeds above 100 Mbps (generally exceeding 1 Gbps). This investment accelerated the deployment of Next Generation Access networks over the whole territory, and notably in areas for which private investment is difficult to attract.

Figure 14 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Croatia

Table 11: Key facts of the Croatian RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 5.8 billion in grants and EUR 4.25 billion in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 13.1% of Croatia’s GDP 31 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 4.5 billion have been disbursed to Croatia under the RRF, comprising EUR 3.7 billion in grants and EUR 0.8 billion in loans.

Croatia still has EUR 5.6 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 279 milestones and targets included in the CID 32 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Croatia’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency from Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies, and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 585.1 million were disbursed as pre-financing on 25 January 2024, fostering the launch of the relevant reform which aims at increasing green skills and competences in the construction sector for non-EU workers.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 39% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 20% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to active labour market policies and early childhood education and care.

With five payment requests completed, Croatia’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Croatia’s first, second, third, and fourth payment requests, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee, leading to EUR 700 million being disbursed in financial support on 28 June 2022; EUR 700 million on 16 December 2022; EUR 700 million on 30 November 2023; and EUR 162.5 million on 15 April 2024 33 . The related 120 milestones and targets covered reforms in areas such as public administration, anti-corruption, fiscal, anti-money-laundering, healthcare, science and higher education, research and innovation, labour market, waste management and renewable energy sources, as well as investments in energy renovation of buildings, green and digital transition of tourism and reducing the administrative burden for businesses.

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 12 July 2024, led to the disbursement of EUR 821.7 million on 19 July 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 37 milestones and targets covering measure related to digitalisation, public administration, clean transport, mobility, water and wastewater management, tourism, judiciary, education and health.

As of 31 August 2024, Croatia was working towards its sixth payment request. Figures 15 and 16 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Figure 15: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 16: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Croatia

Reform:

Croatia introduced a national legal framework enabling an increased state-funding of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) facilities across the country, as well as an equal set of standards according to which the funds-allocation is determined to ECEC providers. Importantly, the criteria take into account local financial (in)capacities, so as to increase funding in less developed areas and, ultimately, the affordability of ECEC across all the regions of the country.

Investment:

The first Logistic Distribution Centre for fruits and vegetables was constructed and operationalised in Osijek. The centre includes 3 600 tonnes of storage capacity with cooling chambers suitable for long-term storage, area for the reception of the product, cleaning, washing, sorting and packaging, as well as a juice production line which will contribute to reduction of food waste. The investment also contributes towards improving the competitiveness of the Croatian economy by enabling producers to safely store produce of highest quality for later processing into high value products, such as premium fruit juices.

Italy

Table 12: Key facts of the Italian RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 71.8 billion in grants and EUR 122.6 billion in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 9.3% of Italy’s GDP 34 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 113.46 billion have been disbursed to Italy under the RRF, comprising EUR 44.67 billion in grants and EUR 68.79 billion in loans.

Italy still has EUR 80.9 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 387 milestones and targets included in the CID 35 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Italy’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and increase the production of clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 551.2 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 25 January 2024. This helped launch relevant reforms, including to streamline permitting for renewable energy deployment, reduce environmentally harmful subsidies, facilitate the production of bio-methane, and step up the provision and uptake of the skills needed for the green transition.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 39.4% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 25.6% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to promoting the transformation of vulnerable territories into smart and sustainable areas by investing in social housing, strengthening local social services to support children and families, improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities, and investing in infrastructure for the Special Economic Zone in the South.

With five payment requests completed, Italy’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Italy’s first, second, third and fourth payment requests, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 21 billion being disbursed in financial support on 13 April 2022; EUR 21 billion on 8 November 2022; EUR 19 billion on 9 October 2023; and EUR 16.5 billion on 28 December 2023 36 . The related 178 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments in the areas of justice, public administration, tax administration, education, active labour market policies, social policies, digital and tourist sectors as well as urban regeneration, simplification of legislation in sectors like waste, water and rail transport.

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 26 July 2024, led to the disbursement of EUR 11 billion on 5 August 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 53 milestones and targets covering, among others, reforms in the areas of competition law, public procurement, waste management, justice (including digitalisation), education as well as investments in the area of digitalisation of local public administration, sustainable mobility, energy efficiency of buildings, agriculture, waste and water management, research and health.

As of 31 August 2024, the Commission was working in collaboration with Italy to assess its sixth payment request.

Figures 17 and 18 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Figure 17: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 18: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Italy

Reform:

Secondary legislation was adopted in 2022, 2023, and 2024 to implement a set of reforms touching on, among others, the reorganisation of the school system, the orientation system, the recruitment and career of teachers, the vocational oriented tertiary education. The comprehensive set of reforms aims to boost educational outcomes, including basic and more advanced skills, realign school curricula with the job market needs and improve employability prospects of students.

Investment:

6 678 new public administrations have adopted the “PagoPA” digital payment solution and 10 675 public administrations have joined and provided services through the app “IO” platform (i.e. an additional channel of interaction with the public administration). The more effective use of information by the public administration, the migration to the cloud, the implementation of interoperability, and improvements to usability will altogether simplify citizens and business’ interaction with the public administration.

Cyprus

Table 13: Key facts of the Cypriot RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 1.02 billion in grants and EUR 0.2 billion in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 4.1% of Cyprus’ GDP 37 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 262.7 million have been disbursed to Cyprus under the RRF, comprising EUR 236.7 million in grants and EUR 26 million in loans.

Cyprus still has EUR 957.3 million available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 268 milestones and targets included in the CID 38 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Cyprus’ RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 20.9 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 25 January 2024. This helped launch relevant reforms like a regulatory framework for the connection of electric vehicles recharging points.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 45.1% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 24.6% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to health care.

With one payment request completed, Cyprus’ implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Cyprus’ payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 85 million being disbursed in financial support on 2 December 2022 39 . The related 14 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as a National E-Skills Action Plan, and others in the areas of energy efficiency, circular economy, anti-corruption, transparency, financial sector, public administration, and digital skills.

As of 31 August 2024, the Commission was working in collaboration with Cyprus to assess its second and third payment request.

Figure 19: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 20: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Cyprus

Reform:

Cyprus implemented an action plan to address the remaining stock of legacy non-performing loans and adopted a package of three amending laws regarding credit acquiring companies and servicers. This improves the working environment for non-performing loans management, while Cyprus is simultaneously continuing its efforts to improve the asset quality of banks.

Investment:

Cyprus has published the first set of calls for proposals to support local authorities in implementing energy renovations in households and improve their energy performance. This includes a support scheme for addressing energy poverty in households with vulnerable electricity consumers, including people with disabilities.

Figures 19 and 20 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Latvia

Table 14: Key facts of the Latvian RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 1.97 billion in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 4.9% of Latvia’s GDP 40 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 801 million have been disbursed to Latvia under the RRF.

Latvia still has EUR 1.17 billion available in grants from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 177 milestones and targets included in the CID 41 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Latvia’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 26.9 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 25 January 2024. This helped launch relevant reforms like the introduction of a regulatory framework for energy communities, currently underway.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, devoting 41.5% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 23% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to healthcare, education and skills.

With two payment requests completed, Latvia’s implementation of its RRP is well underway. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Latvia’s first payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 201 million being disbursed in financial support on 7 October 2022 42 . The related nine milestones covered reforms and investments in the areas of the minimum income support system, broadband infrastructure, educational institutions' infrastructure and remote learning, and others in the areas of public procurement, the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as the construction of low-rent dwellings.

Figure 21: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 16 May 2024, led to the disbursement of EUR 335.7 million on 27 May 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 40 milestones and 3 targets covering reforms and investment in the areas of higher education, digitalisation, healthcare, affordable housing, energy efficiency, clean mobility, customs and tax compliance. This payment request of EUR 336 million in financial support brings the funds paid out to Latvia under the Recovery and Resilience Facility to EUR 801 million, which correspond to 41% of all the funds in the Latvia’s plan.

As of 31 August 2024, Latvia was working towards its third payment request.

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Latvia

Reform:

Latvia has reformed its higher education systems, focusing on governance, accreditation mechanisms, and funding principles. The reform is an important step to address skills shortages that hinder productivity, labour supply, and the green and digital transition in Latvia.

Investment:

Latvia is upgrading 10 hospitals with new equipment and infrastructure, including by adding a linear accelerator for Liepāja hospital to provide a better care for oncology patients. This enhances accuracy, precision, and speed of the equipment, improving and expanding the range of external beam radiation treatment, and reducing treatment times from up to 30 minutes to under two. This reduces the risk of infection for patients during the procedure and helps protect surrounding healthy tissue and critical organs.

Figure 21 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Lithuania

Table 15: Key facts of the Lithuanian RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 2.30 billion in grants and EUR 1.55 billion in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 5.4% of Lithuania’s GDP 43 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 1.36 billion have been disbursed to Lithuania under the RRF, comprising EUR 886 million in grants and EUR 470.3 million in loans.

Lithuania still has EUR 2.49 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 180 milestones and targets included in the CID 44 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Lithuania’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 149.4 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 28 December 2023. This helped launch relevant reforms and investments, like facilitating the issuance of permits for renewable energy development, which is currently underway.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, devoting 37.3% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 23.3% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to healthcare and education.

With two payment requests completed, Lithuania’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Lithuania’s first payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 542 million being disbursed in financial support on 10 May 2023 45 . The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 31 out of 33 milestones and targets covering renewable energy and digitalisation of public services, among others. The remaining 2 milestones concerning taxation had not been satisfactorily fulfilled. The Commission therefore activated the ‘payment suspension’ procedure, as envisaged in Article 24(6) of the Regulation. After re-assessment on 6 May 2024, one out of the two milestones was considered as fulfilled, leading to a partial payment of EUR 14.9 million.

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 21 February 2024, led to the disbursement of EUR 360 million on 27 March 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 5 milestones covering social care, the green transition, public procurement, and modernisation of its industry.

As of 31 August 2024, Lithuania was working towards its third payment request.

Figure 22: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 23: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Lithuania

Reform:

Lithuania established a single Innovation Agency by consolidating innovation promotion functions that were previously spread across several institutions. The agency functions as a one-stop-shop for businesses seeking advice and support on their innovative activities.

Investment:

As part of the RRP, Lithuania has developed an information system for publicly accessible electric vehicle recharging stations. The information system provides real-time information for each station, with the objective to create an optimal network and create favourable conditions for business and citizens to operate clean vehicles.

Figures 22 and 23 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Luxembourg

Table 16: Key facts of the Luxembourgish RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 83 million in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 0.1% of Luxembourg’s GDP 46 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 32.37 million has been disbursed to Luxembourg under the RRF.

Luxembourg still has EUR 50.7 million available in grants from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 34 milestones and targets included in the CID 47 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Luxembourg has submitted a REPowerEU chapter to be added to its RRP, to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. The REPowerEU chapter will contribute to ensuring the supply of affordable, secure, and sustainable energy 48 .

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 68.8% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 29.6% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to affordable housing.

With one payment request completed, Luxembourg’s implementation of its RRP is well underway. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Luxembourg’s payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 20.2 million being disbursed in financial support on 16 June 2023 49 . The related 26 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as those related to the digitalisation of the public sector, for example with the development of the mobile application ‘MyGuichet.lu’, which also covers the entry into force of a legal framework setting a minimum percentage of clean vehicles in public procurement others in

Figure 24: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

the areas of skills.

As of 31 August 2024, Luxembourg was working towards its second payment request.

Figure 24 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Luxembourg

Reform:

Luxembourg introduced a reform that goes beyond the obligations of the Clean Vehicles Directive: Minimum national procurement targets for clean vehicles (light-duty vehicles, buses and heavy-duty vehicles) must be met at a national level but these targets must also be met by each individual contracting authority and entity, when procuring light- and heavy-duty vehicles.

Investment:

Luxembourg deployed a mobile version of MyGuichet.lu website, a platform for interactions between citizens and businesses with the public administration. The app allows completing administrative procedures with a mobile phone. MyGuichet is an important contribution towards digitalisation of public administration.

Hungary

Table 17: Key facts of the Hungarian RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 6.5 billion in grants and EUR 3.9 billion in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 5.3% of Hungary’s GDP 50 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 0.9 billion has been disbursed to Hungary under the RRF, comprising EUR 0.14 billion in grants and EUR 0.78 billion in loans.

Hungary still has EUR 9.5 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 368 milestones and targets included in the CID 51 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Hungary’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 919.6 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 28 December 2023 and 15 January 2024. This helped launch relevant reforms like the introduction of dynamic pricing in the retail electricity market, improving regulatory reserve markets, strengthening the role of energy communities and aggregators, incentivising the uptake of electricity storage, or increasing the number of consumers to use smart meters and harmonising the ways the connection application rules are applied by the distribution system operators.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 66.9% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 29.1% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to social inclusion, which are expected to improve access to mainstream education for disadvantaged students and for those with special needs, support for 4,500 additional early age childcare places as well as social measures dedicated to the 300 most disadvantaged settlements experiencing high levels of poverty.

With a significantly delayed implementation of its RRP, Hungary was still working on the completion of its first payment request as of 31 August 2024.

Figures 25 and 26 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard.

Figure 25: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 26: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Malta

Table 18: Key facts of the Maltese RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 328 million in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 1.7% of Malta’s GDP 52 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 166.4 million has been disbursed to Malta under the RRF.

Malta still has EUR 161.9 million available in grants from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which will be disbursed after the assessment of future fulfilment of the remaining 83 milestones and targets included in the CID 53 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Malta’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies, and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 14 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 13 December 2023. This helped launch relevant reforms like the reform of the permitting system for renewable energy projects.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 68.8% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 26.2% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to quality inclusive education.

With two payment requests completed, Malta’s implementation of its RRP is well underway. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Malta’s first payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 52.3 million being disbursed in financial support on 8 March 2023 54 . The related 19 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as the adoption of a strategy to reduce waste through recycling in the construction sector, the establishment of office facilities to enable civil servants to work remotely across the country, reforms to boost industrial research and investments, a national anti-fraud and corruption strategy and reforms to digitalise the justice system.

Figure 27: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 26 March 2024, led to the disbursement of EUR 58.9 million on 16 May 2024. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 34 milestones and targets covering among others sustainable mobility, healthcare, training in information technology, life-long learning, inclusive education, capacity of judiciary, anti-money laundering, and corporate taxation as well as energy efficiency in private and public buildings electrification of transport, digitalisation of businesses and public administration.

As of 31 August 2024, Malta was working towards its third payment request.

Figure 27 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Malta

Reform:

Malta adopted in January 2024 a new law introducing Transfer Pricing Rules, thus becoming the last Member State to adopt such rules. This reform aims to prevent multinationals from manipulating prices and shifting profits to low or zero-tax jurisdictions to avoid paying taxes. The rules will also help ensure a level playing field for local and foreign businesses.

Investment:

Malta’s RRP provides incentives for a shift to electric mobility, reducing emissions, and alleviating traffic congestion on the Maltese Islands. The EUR 50 million RRF investment includes grants of up to EUR 11 000 for new e-vehicles and EUR 1 000 for scrappage resulting in 1 200+ new e-vehicles in 2023 and 5600+ by 2025, doubling the current share of electric vehicles.

The Netherlands

Table 19: Key facts of the Dutch RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 5.4 billion in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 0.5% of the Netherlands’ GDP 55 . As of 31 August 2024, the Netherlands still had its full RRF allocation available, which will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the 132 56 milestones and targets included in the CID 57 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

The Dutch RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies, and produce more clean energy in the coming years. The chapter includes a scaled-up investment for sustainable energy and energy savings in housing and a relevant reform that will contribute to ensuring the supply of affordable, secure, and sustainable energy, by tackling grid congestion and accelerating the deployment of renewable energy.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 54.9% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 25.6% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with measures related to affordable housing, protection of the self-employed, and support for re-employment.

With a significantly delayed implementation of its RRP, the Netherlands submitted its first payment request on 24 May 2024. As of 31 August 2024, the Commission had adopted a preliminary assessment of the Netherlands’ first payment request. The corresponding disbursement will take place soon.

Figure 28 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard.

Figure 28: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Austria

Table 20: Key facts of the Austrian RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 3.96 billion in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 0.8% of Austria’s GDP 58 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 1.19 billion has been disbursed to Austria under the RRF.

Austria still has EUR 2.8 billion available in grants from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 134 milestones and targets included in the CID 59 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Austria’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies, and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 42.1 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 21 December 2023. This helped launch relevant reforms like streamlining permitting procedures for renewable energy projects, in particular wind farms.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 56% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 36% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to education and skills, healthcare, business environment and research and innovation.

With one payment request completed, Austria’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Austria’s first payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 700 million being disbursed in financial support on 20 April 2023 60 . The related 44 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as the entry into force of a Renewable Expansion Law, which will accelerate the roll-out of renewable energy production, and others in the areas of public transportation, energy efficiency and digitalisation of schools.

As of 31 August 2024, Austria was working towards its second payment request.

Figure 29: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Figure 29 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Austria

Reform:

The Renewables Expansion Law adopted in 2022 has established new framework conditions for supporting electricity generation from renewable sources. By accelerating the roll-out of clean energy production, the reform makes a key contribution to supporting Austria’s green transition.

Investment:

National investment projects supporting the development of hydrogen infrastructure were launched under the IPCEI framework. By promoting integrated cross-border projects along the whole hydrogen value chain, including production, storage and applications, the investment aims at anchoring Austria’s industry to the emerging European renewable hydrogen sector.

Poland

Table 21: Key facts of the Polish RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 25.3 billion in grants and EUR 34.5 billion in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 8% of Poland’s GDP 61 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 11.39 billion has been disbursed to Poland under the RRF, comprising EUR 3.25 billion in grants and EUR 8.14 billion in loans.

Poland still has EUR 48.4 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 276 milestones and targets included in the CID 62 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Poland’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 5.1 billion was disbursed as pre-financing on 28 December 2023. This helped launch relevant reforms like streamlining the permitting process for renewable energy sources and to accelerate home renovations, thereby accelerating the deployment of renewable energy and boosting energy efficiency in buildings.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 44.8% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 21.3% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to employment and skills.

With one payment request completed, Poland’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Poland’s payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 6.3 billion being disbursed in financial support on 15 April 2024 63 . The related 38 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments aiming at improving the country's investment climate, the resilience and competitiveness of the economy, agriculture, green energy, digital transformation, health and clean mobility.

As of 31 August 2024, Poland was working towards its second payment request.

Figures 30 and 31 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Figure 30: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 31: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Poland

Reform:

Poland introduced a reform that will strengthen important aspects of the independence of the judiciary in Poland, overall improving the country’s investment climate. Following the measures taken between June 2022 and February 2024, Poland has comprehensively reformed the disciplinary regime applicable to Polish judges. In particular, the reform abolished the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court and replaced it by an independent and impartial court established by law, i.e. the Professional Liability Chamber. All judges affected by the rulings of the former Disciplinary Chamber had the right to have their case reviewed by the new Supreme Court Chamber within a clear timeframe. Now safeguards are in place so that judges no longer face a risk of disciplinary liability for the content of their judgments or for applying EU law.

Investment:

A fully functioning IT system was created, to manage the financing and creation of childcare facilities for children up to the age of three. This IT system also combines different sources of financing for childcare.

Portugal

Table 22: Key facts of the Portuguese RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 16.3 billion in grants and EUR 5.9 billion in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 8.4% of Portugal’s GDP 64 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 8.49 billion has been disbursed to Portugal under the RRF, comprising EUR 6.84 billion in grants and EUR 1.65 billion in loans.

Portugal still has EUR 13.7 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 358 milestones and targets included in the CID 65 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the Facility.

Portugal’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 171.1 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 21 December 2023. This helped the launch relevant reforms like setting up the Energy Poverty Observatory.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 41.2% 66 of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 21.1% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to social housing.

With four payment requests completed, Portugal’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Portugal’s first and second payment requests, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 1.2 billion being disbursed in financial support on 9 May 2022 and EUR 1.8 billion on 8 February 2023 67 . The related 58 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as the National Strategy to Combat Poverty digital transformation of the public administration, and the Banco Português de Fomento. There were also reforms and investments in the areas of health, taxation, investment and innovation, qualifications and digital skills, forestry, the blue economy, renewable gases and bio-economy and waste management.

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 13 December 2023, led to the disbursement of EUR 2.5 billion on 28 December 2023. The disbursement, combining the third and fourth instalments, reflected the positive assessment of 44 out of 47 milestones and targets covering among others the digitalisation of healthcare, affordable housing, the business environment, decarbonisation of transport, rural fire prevention and the justice system. The remaining target and two milestones on health sector reforms and the reform of regulated professions had not been satisfactorily fulfilled. The Commission therefore activated the ‘payment suspension' procedure, as envisaged in Article 24(6) of the RRF Regulation. After re-assessment on 26 July 2024, all three milestones and targets were considered as fulfilled, leading to a lifting of the suspension and a payment of EUR 720 million.

As of 31 August 2024, the Commission was working in collaboration with Portugal to assess its fifth payment request.

Figures 32 and 33 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Figure 32: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 33: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Portugal

Reform:

The revised National Strategy for Green Public Procurement entered into force on 11 February 2023. The revised strategy specifies ecological criteria related to the procurement of services and products integrating sustainable bio-based materials, including through the introduction of mandatory ecological criteria.

Investment:

Portugal adopted the investment policy for Banco Português de Fomento (BPF) and the Government transferred a capital of EUR 250 million to BPF. The capital increase and the development of an investment policy for BPF enable the implementation of InvestEU and also introduced a set of eligibility criteria to ensure compliance with the RRF requirements and objectives.

Romania

Table 23: Key facts of the Romanian RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 13.6 billion in grants and EUR 14.9 billion in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 8.8% of Romania’s GDP 68 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 9.4 billion has been disbursed to Romania under the RRF, comprising EUR 5.8 billion in grants and EUR 3.6 billion in loans.

Romania still has EUR 19 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 448 milestones and targets included in the CID 69 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Romania’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 288 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 25 January 2024. This helped launch relevant reforms such as setting up the one-stop shop for renovations and deployment of renewables by prosumers.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 44.2% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 21.9% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to support for children from vulnerable families, persons with disabilities and the elderly, as well as the implementation of the Minimum Inclusion Income.

With two payment requests completed, Romania’s implementation of its RRP is significantly delayed. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Romania’s first payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 2.6 billion being disbursed in financial support on 27 October 2022 70 . The related 21 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments in the areas of sustainable mobility, decarbonisation, audit and control, education and health, and preliminary steps in tax and pension reforms, among others.

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 27 June 2023, led to the disbursement of EUR 2.8 billion on 29 September 2023. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 49 out of 51 milestones and targets covering among others the digitalisation of healthcare, affordable housing, culture, the business environment, decarbonization of transport, and rural fire prevention. The remaining two milestones concerning energy investments had not been satisfactorily fulfilled. The Commission has therefore activated the ‘payment suspension' procedure, as envisaged by Article 24(6) of the RRF Regulation. Upon provision of evidence within the period stipulated in the provisions of the RRF Regulation, the Commission will assess the satisfactory fulfilment of the milestones and, if appropriate, lift the suspension of the payment.

As of 31 August 2024, the Commission was working in collaboration with Romania to assess its third payment request.

Figures 34 and 35 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Figure 34: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 35: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Romania

Reform:

Romania adopted in June 2022 a Government Emergency Ordinance establishing a phase-out calendar for coal and lignite, thus furthering the decarbonisation of the energy sector. Coal and lignite-fired power plants should phase-out by 2032.

Investment:

Contracts were signed with public operators (i.e. municipalities) for the operationalisation of energy-efficient nurseries. The investment aims to increase access and participation in standard early-childhood education and care services, through the additional capacity of 110 new nurseries.

Slovenia

Table 24: Key facts of the Slovenian RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 1.6 billion in grants and EUR 1.1 billion in loans under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 4.3% of Slovenia’s GDP 71 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 841 million has been disbursed to Slovenia under the RRF, comprising EUR 530.96 million in grants and EUR 310 million in loans.

Slovenia still has EUR 1.8 billion available in grants and loans from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the positive assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 149 milestones and targets included in the CID 72 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Slovenia’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies, and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 24.4 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 13 December 2023. This helped launch relevant reforms like removing regulatory barriers to the deployment of renewable energy installations.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 48.9% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 20.0% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to healthcare, pensions, and long-term care.

With two payment requests completed, Slovenia’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Slovenia’s first payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 50 million being disbursed in financial support on 20 April 2023 73 . The related 12 milestones covered reforms and investments in low-power processors and semiconductor chips as well as in European common data infrastructure and services, and others in the areas of digital transformation, business environment, long-term care and audit and control.

The most recent payment request, which the Commission assessed positively on 27 November 2023, led to the disbursement of EUR 536 million on 28 December 2023. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 44 milestones and targets covering among others the flood risk management plan, the use of renewable energy sources and the digital transformation of businesses, tourism and culture.

As of 31 August 2024, the Commission was working in collaboration with Slovenia to assess its third payment request.

Figures 36 and 37 show the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below

Figure 36: Total grants disbursed under the RRF	Figure 37: Total loans disbursed under the RRF

Note: This graph displays the amount of grants, including pre-financing, disbursed so far under the RRF. Grants are non-repayable financial contributions. The total amount of grants given to each Member State is determined by an allocation key and the total estimated cost of the respective RRP.	Note: This graph displays the amount of loans disbursed so far under the RRF. Loans are repayable financial contributions. The total amount of loans given to each Member State is determined by the assessment of its loan request and cannot exceed 6.8% of its 2019 GNI.
Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard	Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Slovenia

Reform:

Slovenia adopted the Act on Alternative Fuels in Transport, which makes the use of alternative fuels in transport interoperable, secure, and easily accessible. The Act sets out legally binding rules for all stakeholders in a one-stop shop, to facilitate the diversification of primarily personal transport into low-emission and zero-emission transport. The Act also covers the creation, registration and operation of recharging and supply infrastructure.

Investment:

Slovenia selected the successful projects of municipal housing funds and other affordable housing organisations, to deliver on the construction and acquisition of new dwellings as well as the reconstruction of existing dwellings, in order to provide 480 new affordable public housing units.

Slovakia

Table 25: Key facts of the Slovak RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 6.4 billion in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 5.2% of Slovakia’s GDP 74 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 2.67 billion in grants have been disbursed to Slovakia under the RRF.

Slovakia still has EUR 3.7 billion available in grants from the RRF. This will be disbursed upon assessment of future fulfilment of the remaining 165 75 milestones and targets included in the CID 76 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Slovakia’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 80.5 million were disbursed as pre-financing on 13 December 2023. This helped launch relevant reforms like the modernisation and digitalisation of the electricity networks.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 45.8% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 20.50% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to poor education outcomes and skills of pupils and low enrolment rate of children in pre-school facilities.

With three payment requests completed, Slovakia’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Slovakia’s first and second payment requests, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 398.7 million being disbursed in financial support on 29 July 2022 and EUR 708.8 million on 22 March 2023 77 . The related 30 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as equipping and digitalising the police force or reorganising the judicial map, and others in the areas of digital transformation, healthcare and public administration.

Figure 38: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The most recent payment request, which was positively assessed by the Commission on 24 November 2023, has led to the disbursement of EUR 662.3 million on 28 December 2023. The disbursement reflected the positive assessment of 27 milestones and targets covering, among others, the preparation of a strategy to guide the economy’s digital transition, the launch of new calls to enhance the cooperation between academic researchers and private companies, and the improvement of the accessibility and quality of the education system, including pre-primary schools.

As of 31 August 2024, the Commission had adopted a preliminary assessment of Slovakia’s fourth payment request.

Figure 38 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Slovakia

Reform:

Slovakia updated the existing legal framework for renewable energy sources and created new support mechanisms for the deployment of renewables in transport, electricity, and heating. Slovakia also introduced a long-term auctioning plan for renewable energy sources by the Ministry of Economy and adopted an auction scheme for renewable energy sources, a new support scheme for investments in repowering and a scheme for investments in flexibility assets.

Investment:

Slovakia has also achieved a target related to the creation of a network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) and Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) to provide services to businesses to support the development of new technologies and innovation.

Finland

Table 26: Key facts of the Finnish RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 1.9 billion in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 0.7% of Finland’s GDP 78 . As of 31 August 2024, EUR 498.8 million has been disbursed to Finland under the RRF.

Finland still has EUR 1.45 billion available in grants from the RRF. This will be disbursed after the assessment of the future fulfilment of the remaining 124 milestones and targets included in the CID 79 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the RRF.

Finland’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies and produce more clean energy in the coming years. To kick-start the REPowerEU chapter’s implementation, EUR 25.4 million was disbursed as pre-financing on 25 January 2024. This helped to launch relevant reforms like establishing a single review procedure and a new single national authority for processing environmental permit applications, and investments, such as in new clean technologies for energy production and use, as well as research and development activities to promote renewable energy solutions.

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 52.3% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 28.9% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, especially related to improving access to health care and social services across the country.

With one payment request completed, Finland’s implementation of its RRP is underway. However, timely completion requires increased efforts. The Commission gave a positive assessment of Finland’s payment request, taking into account the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. This led to EUR 202 million being disbursed in financial support on 1 March 2024 80 . The related 20 milestones and targets covered reforms and investments such as tax reforms to promote the electrification of industry and encourage investment in low-carbon technologies, tax incentives to promote sustainable transport and the use of electric vehicles, improvement employment opportunities through matching continuous learning opportunities with labour market needs and key legislation in the context of the social, healthcare and rescue services reform. The milestones also included key investments in support of the green and digital transition, such as the transformation of energy infrastructure and new energy technologies and the production and use of low-emission hydrogen. Other key investments targeted the reduction of climate and environmental impacts of buildings and support precision forestry to promote climate resilient measures and environmental sustainability.

As of 31 August 2024, Finland was working towards its second payment request.

Figure 39: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Examples of fulfilled milestones and targets for Finland

Reform:

The Act on Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment entered into force. The Service Centre provides training and resources for the development of competences and skills that are needed in the current labour market and in the future, thereby widening Finland’s continuous learning offer and creating opportunities for working-age people.

Investment:

The funding guidelines (Energy Aid Regulation) entered into force, which enabled the launch of the first competitive call for proposals for the construction of energy infrastructure. One of the beneficiaries of these investments is City of Helsinki’s fully owned energy company HELEN, whose Air to Water Heat Pumps (AWHP) project aims to implement a heat pump plant which uses outside air as a heat source with 11-18 MW district heating capacity and 8MW district cooling capacity.

Figure 39 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, whilst examples of measures with fulfilled milestones and targets are included in the box below.

Sweden

Table 27: Key facts of the Swedish RRP

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The RRP paves the way for disbursing up to EUR 3.45 billion in grants under the RRF over the 2021-2026 period, representing 0.6% of Sweden’s GDP 81 . As of 31 August 2024, Sweden still has its full RRF allocation available, which will be disbursed upon assessment of future fulfilment of the 57 milestones and targets included in the CID 82 , ahead of the 2026 deadline established for the Facility.

Sweden’s RRP includes a REPowerEU chapter to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, diversify its energy supplies, and produce more clean energy in the coming years. The chapter will contribute to ensuring the supply of affordable, secure, and sustainable energy.

Figure 40: Total grants disbursed under the RRF

Source: Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

The plan has a strong focus on the green transition, dedicating 43.65% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives and 21.2% of its total allocation to support the digital transition. It also retains a strong social dimension with social protection measures, including in particular vocational education, Swedish language training and student housing.

With a significantly delayed implementation of its RRP, Sweden was working towards its first payment request as of 31 August 2024.

Figure 40 shows the current state of play as reflected in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard.

(1)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(2)

The Commission adopted a preliminary assessment for Belgium’s first payment request on 2 July 2024, in which the Commission assessed 19 milestones and targets as satisfactorily fulfilled. The corresponding payment was disbursed to Belgium on 24 September 2024, i.e. after this annual report’s cut-off date.

(3)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15570-2023-ADD-1/en/pdf

(4)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(5)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8091-2022-ADD-1/en/pdf

(6)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(7)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(8)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11047-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(9)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(10)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(11)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10154-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(12)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(13)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en .

(14)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11674-2024-COR-1/en/pdf

(15)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(16)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(17)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-12532-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(18)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(19)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(20)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10262-2024-INIT/en/pdf

(21)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(22)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(23)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-11858-2024-ADD-1/en/pdf

(24)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(25)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(26)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10150-2021-ADD-1-REV-2/en/pdf

(27)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(28)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(29)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10162-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(30)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(31)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(32)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10687-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(33)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(34)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(35)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10160-2021-ADD-1-REV-2/en/pdf

(36)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(37)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(38)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10686-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(39)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(40)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(41)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10157-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(42)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(43)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(44)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10477-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(45)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(46)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(47)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10155-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(48)

The Council adopted Luxembourg’s REPowerEU chapter on 23 September 2024, i.e. after this annual report’s cut-off date.

(49)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(50)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(51)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15447-2022-ADD-1/en/pdf

(52)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(53)

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CONSIL:ST_11941_2021_ADD_1

(54)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(55)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(56)

The Commission adopted a preliminary assessment for the Netherlands’ first payment request on 15 July 2024, in which the Commission assessed 30 milestones and targets as satisfactorily fulfilled. The corresponding payment was disbursed to the Netherlands on 24 September 2024, i.e. after this annual report’s cut-off date.

(57)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-12275-2022-ADD-1/en/pdf

(58)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(59)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10159-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(60)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(61)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(62)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9728-2022-ADD-1/en/pdf

(63)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(64)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(65)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10149-2021-ADD-1-REV-1/en/pdf

(66)

As of 8 October 2024, i.e. after this annual report’s cut-off date, when the Council adopted Portugal’s update of clerical errors, the new value is 40.6%.

(67)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(68)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(69)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-12319-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(70)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(71)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(72)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8390-2022-INIT/en/pdf

(73)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(74)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(75)

The Commission adopted a preliminary assessment for Slovakia’s fourth payment request on 1 July 2024, in which the Commission assessed 15 milestones and targets as satisfactorily fulfilled.

(76)

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CONSIL:ST_10156_2021_ADD_1

(77)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(78)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(79)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-12524-2021-ADD-1/en/pdf

(80)

When requested payments are disbursed, the pre-financing is cleared proportionally. The net amounts are quoted here.

(81)

GDP information is based on 2023 data. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html?lang=en

(82)

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-7772-2022-ADD-1/en/pdf

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 10.10.2024

COM(2024) 474 final

ANNEX

to the

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Annex II: Eligibility of measures under the Recovery and Resilience Facility – start date for eligible measures.

At the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis, Member States individually and collectively implemented a series of measures to protect citizens and businesses, as well as to facilitate the management of the crisis and future crisis. Although such measures at times had large fiscal costs, those measures were critical to protecting economic, social and territorial cohesion by mitigating the social and economic impact of the crisis, helping both Member States individually and the Union as a whole to weather the crisis. The swift action of the Commission, Member States, the European Parliament and the Council to propose and agree NextGenerationEU, in particular the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), stabilised both market and societal expectations. However, a time gap arose between the start of the crisis and the beginning of implementation of the RRF.

To support measures that might otherwise have been halted due to the large fiscal burden that the crisis put on Member States, as well as to support the early policy response to the COVID-19 crisis, the European Parliament and Council introduced a ‘retroactivity’ clause in the RRF Regulation. The intention behind this ‘retroactivity’ clause was to support Member States’ early policy response. Moreover, learning from the lessons of recent crisis in Europe, the intention was to ensure that Member States would not stop or reduce investments in the context of the severe economic and social crisis caused by the pandemic, so as not to tighten the economic contraction further. Article 17(2) of the RRF Regulation therefore specifies that only “measures started from 1 February 2020 shall be eligible provided that they comply with the requirements set out in this Regulation”. A similar provision with the same logic was added when the RRF Regulation was amended to add REPowerEU chapters (measures included in REPowerEU chapter “shall only be eligible where they start from 1 February 2022 onwards”). A key consideration for Member States and the Commission when designing and assessing recovery and resilience plans was therefore to determine when a measure was considered to have started.

A measure starts with implementation on the ground.

The RRF Regulation does not precisely define the concept of ‘started’ but provides indications as to its meaning. Notably, as Member States need to submit the estimated total costs of the measures that must have ‘started’ after 1 February 2020, it is reasonable to conclude that all costs should occur in statistical terms after that date.

In statistical terms, expenditure and assets are recorded only when a project begins implementation. Under the European system of national and regional accounts (ESA 2010) 1 , public accounting operates on an accrual basis, meaning that transactions are recorded when economic value is created, transformed, exchanged, transferred, or extinguished. Economic value only begins to be created once implementation of a measure starts on the ground. This approach ensures that economic activities are accurately represented in the period when they actually occur. This method contrasts with cash-based accounting, where transactions are recorded when cash is received or paid, which usually takes place some time after a transaction is completed and a bill is issued.

The focus on the actual implementation of the measure, when costs actually materialise, is further justified by the fact that the signature of a contract does not necessarily correspond to the start of a measure. Public investment measures are generally preceded by multiple phases of planning, budgeting, procurement, and preparation. Preparatory phases include negotiation and signature of one or more contractual agreements. Contractual agreements typically contain clauses governing conditions such as precedent, termination and rescission, breach of obligations and instances of force majeure. Such clauses may prevent works proceeding or even starting, where it is noted that such clauses are of particular relevance in a global pandemic. Signature of contractual agreements does not therefore correspond to the start of a measure. Such an interpretation would be against the intention of the co-legislators and the RRF’s intervention logic, given that it would result in the exclusion of several measures, where Member States decided not to postpone or terminate contracts, but to start their implementation and benefit from RRF support.

Therefore, in line with the above statistical and legal principles, the start of a measure has been interpreted as the beginning of implementation of the measure on the ground. This interpretation ensures consistency with the logic and principles of the RRF Regulation, and the performance-based nature of the RRF. It is when economic value starts to be created that the implementation of a measure can be considered as having started.

Commission guidance applies the principles of the Regulation

The Commission has provided guidance to Member States on how to interpret and apply the retroactivity clause. In line with the principles established by the co-legislators in the Regulation, the ESA 2010 and the performance-based nature of the instrument, the Commission issued guidance to the Member States in February 2021 2 specifying that measures can be supported “only in so far as their implementation (for which the costs incur) has started only on or after 1 February 2020.”

Furthermore, the guidance provided by the Commission services to national RRF implementing authorities, in reply to questions from them, further specified how to interpret the “start” of a measure: “Projects whose preparation and initial phases (including procurement) were launched before 1 February 2020 can be considered eligible for RRF funding only for clearly defined phases or sub-projects that are implemented after 1 February 2020, and for which the entirety of the costs are recorded (in European System of Accounts (ESA2010) terms) after 1 February 2020.”

Commission applies this guidance to ensure consistency

In its assessment of the plans and of the eligibility of measures according to Article 17(2), the Commission therefore applies two key tests to ensure compliance with the principles above.

1)Has implementation of the proposed measure started only on or after 1 February?; and

2)Have the costs incurred for that implementation started only on or after 1 February? Specifically, are the entirety of the costs recorded (in European System of Accounts (ESA2010) terms) after 1 February 2020?

The examples below illustrate how the Commission applies these two key tests:

Example 1:

·A Member State signs a contract for construction works for a new railway line connecting two regional cities, creating additional capacity in rail transport in December 2019.

·Extracts from the construction book signed by the contractor, as well as the first invoice issued by the contractor, demonstrate that actual work on the construction site began in March 2020.

·The Commission therefore considers that (i) a clearly defined phase of preparation that is not part of the RRF measure (signature of the contract) occurred before 1 February 2020, while (ii) a clearly defined phase of implementation that is part of the RRF measure (i.e. actual construction work) began after 1 February 2020 and that (iii) the entirety of the costs for that phase of implementation are recorded in ESA 2010 terms after 1 February 2020.

Example 2:

·A Member State issues purchase orders for the acquisition of IT equipment in December 2019.

·The transportation or delivery document which certifies the transfer of goods from the seller to the purchasing entity is dated March 2020.

·The Commission therefore considers that (i) a clearly defined phase of procurement [that is not part of the RRF measure] (purchase orders) occurred before 1 February 2020, while (ii) a clearly defined phase of implementation that is part of the RRF measure (i.e. the delivery, installation and operationalisation) began after 1 February 2020 and that (iii) the entirety of the costs for that phase are recorded in ESA 2010 terms after 1 February 2020.

Example 3:

·A Member State requests RRF support for the electrification of a railway line between two major cities, as part of a modernisation project adopted in 2019 concerning a longer stretch of railway than what is referred to in the RRP.

·The contract for the electrification of the whole railway line is signed with the contractor in December 2019.

·Work on the railway track between the two cities starts in April 2022, as attested by the project documentation foreseen in the contract.

·The Commission therefore considers that (i) a clearly defined phase of procurement that is not part of the RRF measure (purchase orders) occurred before 1 February 2020, while (ii) a clearly defined sub-project of implementation that is part of the RRF measure began after 1 February 2020 and that (iii) the entirety of the costs for that phase are recorded in ESA 2010 terms after 1 February 2020.

(1)

The European system of national and regional accounts (ESA 2010) is the EU national accounts framework consistent with the international guidelines on national accounting. EU Member States are required to follow this macroeconomic statistical framework when producing their national accounts.

(2)

https://commission.europa.eu/publications/guidance-member-states-recovery-and-resilience-plans-part-1_en .

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 10.10.2024

COM(2024) 474 final

ANNEX

to the

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Annex III: Eligibility of measures under the Recovery and Resilience Facility – Substitution of recurring national budgetary expenditure.

The Recovery and Resilience Facility provides financial support to Member States with a view to achieving the milestones and targets of reforms and investments as set out in their recovery and resilience plans. In the provision of that financial support, a number of eligibility provisions are required to be complied with.

Recurring national budgetary expenditure is expenditure of a Member State from its national budget that happens on a repeated basis. A typical example of such expenditure is staff costs, which result in expenditure on a monthly basis.

As a general rule, substituting recurring national budgetary expenditure with RRF support has questionable European added value and raises concerns on the sustainability of such expenditure after the lifetime of the RRF. Nonetheless, it is recalled that the RRF was created in a specific context – notably that of the COVID 19 pandemic – where it was identified that there could be reasons to substitute such expenditure, for example, to support an increase in staffing at hospitals.

In this context, Article 5(1) of the RRF Regulation requires that “support from the Facility shall not, unless in duly justified cases, substitute recurring national budgetary expenditure”. This provision, as such, generally prohibits the substitution of recurring national budgetary expenditure with RRF support but does allow for it in duly justified cases.

In applying this provision from the RRF Regulation, four cumulative tests can be identified:

1.Does the measure involve budgetary expenditure that is directly tied to the proposed measure?

2.If so, is that expenditure of recurrent nature?

3.If so, does financial support from the RRF substitute that recurring expenditure?

4.If so, is it not falling into a duly justified use?

If all four of these tests are met, the measure proposed would not be compliant with Article 5(1) of the RRF Regulation and, as such, not be eligible for RRF support.

In its assessment of the recovery and resilience plans of Member States, the Commission uses these four tests to determine the eligibility of measures and the compliance of the recovery and resilience plan with Article 5(1) of the RRF Regulation. In order to provide clarity on how the Commission has applied these tests, each of these tests is explained in turn.

Does the measure involve budgetary expenditure that is directly tied to the proposed measure?

Potential non-eligible measures are firstly identified by considering whether that measure has national budgetary expenditure that is directly tied to the proposed measure. For example, a measure to construct a wind-turbine has construction costs that are directly tied to the implementation of the measure. In contrast, a measure to adopt legislation does not mean that, for instance, the salaries of the civil servants that draft it should automatically be considered as national budgetary expenditure directly tied to that measure, in particular where those costs would have materialised irrespective of the measure going ahead or not.

The costs declared by a Member State associated with that measure are taken into consideration, since it is not possible for a Member State to both declare a cost to be supported by the RRF and at the same time consider it is not directly tied to the proposed measure.

If so, is that expenditure of recurrent nature?

Should a measure involve national budgetary expenditure directly tied to it, it needs to be considered whether that expenditure is of a recurrent nature, meaning that it occurs on a repeated basis. This repeated basis means that it must materialise more than once, with some degree of periodicity (for example, weekly, monthly or yearly). Examples of such recurrent costs can include salaries, maintenance costs, or service or subscription fees.

The fact that, at some point in time previously, the Member State has incurred a one-off cost that is then repeated in order to fulfil an RRF measure does not imply that the expenditure is recurring. For example, in case a Member State has previously incurred costs to implement a study or survey does not preclude it from including estimated costs for a new study or survey under an RRP measure.

If so, does financial support from the RRF substitute that recurring expenditure?

Should a measure involve national budgetary expenditure directly tied to it that is of recurrent nature, it needs to be considered whether the RRF is substituting that expenditure.

In accordance with Article 18, paragraph (4), point (k) of the RRF Regulation, Member States should set out the estimated total costs of the reforms and investments covered by the recovery and resilience plan. Should the Member State put forward in its RRP that expenditure as estimated costs, it is apparent that the RRF would be financially supporting that expenditure and, as such, would substitute the recurring national expenditure.

The above is relevant only for measures for which Member States presented estimated costs, given that the assessment on whether those costs constitute recurring national expenditure that cannot be supported under the RRF presupposes that the Member States presents those costs as part of their plan. Should the Member State not include any estimated cost for that measure, the inclusion of such measure is not taken into account for the calculation of the Member States’ financial contribution under the RRF and, as such, the Member State does not include any estimated cost for the RRF to financially support it. In this respect, it is not possible for the RRF to substitute national budgetary expenditure that takes place for that measure (or for a part of the measure not covered under the RRF), even if that expenditure is recurring expenditure. This is because no substitution has taken place.

If so, is it not falling into a duly justified use?

Finally, should a measure involve national budgetary expenditure directly tied to it that is of recurrent nature and the RRF financially supports it, it needs to be considered whether its substitution by support from the Facility can be duly justified and, as such, permitted by the exception provided for in Article 5(1) of the RRF Regulation.

The Regulation does not provide exact criteria for what should be considered a duly justified case. In applying this, the Commission services have communicated to Member States to use three tests. Specifically, whether:

(I)the estimated cost is an integral part of a reform/investment;

(II)this reform/investment contributes to meeting the assessment criteria defined in Article 19 of the RRF Regulation; and

(III)the financing of such reform/investment will be sustainably ensured after the RRF lifetime and that the negative effect on the government balance is only temporary.

Based on the practice established, some general considerations can be drawn on what may constitute a duly justified case:

·Generally, the compensation of public employees that work in the public administration on the preparation or implementation of reforms/investments covered by the RRF should not be included in the cost estimate. However, in duly justified cases (e.g. need for specific expertise or to temporarily increase administrative capacity), the cost of non-permanent personnel during the implementation period of the recovery and resilience plan can be included where necessary.

·Costs for training of civil service staff related to a reform or investment linked to the objectives of the Facility could be covered if duly justified and fully integrated in a reform or investment of the plan.

·Social expenditure such as hiring subsidies or student scholarships may be financed by the RRF if the expenditure (or revenue shortfall) is one-off or by nature temporary with an end within the lifespan of the RRF. It needs to have positive long-term effects supporting the objectives of the Facility, and its impact on public finances should be limited in time.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 10.10.2024

COM(2024) 474 final

ANNEX

to the

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Annex IV: The concept of double funding under the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Complementarity between Union funds maximises the value added of the Union budget, allowing for additional synergies to be achieved compared to an isolated approach to each Union programme or instrument. The European Parliament and Council have introduced requirements in many Union programmes and instruments to ensure that they complement each other, including by allowing individual projects to receive support from more than one Union programme or instrument. Provisions to this effect can be found in several basic acts such as the Common Provisions Regulation 1 , Digital Europe 2 , Horizon 3 , or CEF 4 .

Combining support under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) with financial support from other EU funds is provided for under the RRF Regulation. To ensure an efficient and complementary implementation of Union funds, Article 9 of the RRF Regulation specifically envisages that “reforms and investment projects may receive support from other Union programmes and instruments provided that such support does not cover the same cost.”

While the RRF is a performance-based instrument, Article 9 of the RRF Regulation introduces a cost-based approach for the assessment of double funding. The RRF is a performance-based instrument under which financing is linked to results achieved, not costs incurred. Disbursements are made based on the satisfactory fulfilment of a set of milestones and targets. Payments to the Member States are therefore not subject to EU-level controls on the costs incurred to fulfil those milestones and targets. The estimated costs of all measures under each recovery and resilience plan (RRP) are assessed ex-ante for the sole purpose of setting the financial contribution to be committed for each Member State. In this estimate, the Member State indicates which costs it expects to be covered by the RRF and which costs by other Union programmes or instruments. The concept of incurred eligible costs, which is applied under most cost-based EU funding programmes, is not applicable under the RRF. However, both in the Financial Regulation 5 and the RRF Regulation, the concept of double funding is linked to costs. The Commission has provided guidance 6 , explaining how to apply the cost-based concept of double funding to the performance-based implementation logic of the RRF.

Under the RRF, double funding can occur at two levels:

·At Member State level: Member States are required to identify in their RRPs “information on existing or planned Union financing” (Article 18, paragraph 4, point (l) of the RRF Regulation) to be taken into account in the ex-ante estimation of costs. After the approval of the RRP and the adoption of the relevant Council implementing decision (CID), any additional support by other Union funds to cover costs that were part of the cost estimate carried out for the RRP would result in the Member State receiving support from two different Union funding sources to cover the same costs.

·At final recipient level: a final recipient should not receive support to cover the same costs both from the RRF – through the Member State – and from other Union funds.

Due to the performance-based nature of the RRF, when combining RRF support with support from other EU funds, a clear ex-ante cost delineation is the default approach to avoid double funding. For measures that are only partially funded from the RRF, Member States should clearly delineate between project parts that are funded from the RRF and those that are funded from other EU funds. For the RRF, Member States must indicate this delineation when they submit their ex-ante cost estimates. An ex-ante cost delineation can be established, for instance, by identifying distinct implementation phases of a co-funded project, or by separating different cost items and attributing them to the respective EU funding instruments.

However, a split of costs on a pro-rata basis is allowed under certain conditions. In exceptional circumstances, where a clear cost delineation is not feasible or excessively burdensome 7 , measures can be supported on a pro-rata basis. Under this approach, each EU fund finances a pre-defined share of the total costs. Specific conditions laid down in Commission’s guidance to Member States ensure that the output/result measured under, and funded from, the RRF is aligned with the cost estimated ex-ante, that no cost is covered twice, and that overall EU support does not exceed 100% of the eligible costs actually incurred. These five conditions require that:

(I)the measure description in the relevant CID indicates clearly that the RRF is financing only a part of the project in combination with other Union programmes or instruments;

(II)the ex-ante cost estimates provided by the Member State for the entire project lay out which amount is financed by the RRF and taken into account for the costing of the RRP, while noting that other costs could be supported by other Union programmes or instruments (if possible, with an indicative amount for such Union programmes or instruments);

(III)the relevant milestones/targets concerned are drafted in a manner that only measures the RRF contribution, possibly through a budgetary execution target;

(IV)the Member State notifies the final recipient of the amount of the RRF contribution, which the final recipient has to declare to the entity implementing the Union programme or instrument complementing RRF support;

(V)the entity implementing any other Union programme or instrument complementing RRF support is able to verify, at project level, that the final recipients of funding under the RRF do not receive Union support for more than 100 % of the total eligible cost 8 .

In addition to the conditions outlined above, this approach must be in line with the provisions of the other EU funding instrument concerned and comply with State aid rules including provisions on cumulation. This approach does not apply to the funds governed by the Common Provisions Regulation given that condition (v) is difficult to apply in their context.

As double funding is defined as covering the same cost by the RRF and another Union programme or instrument, no double funding can occur where a Member State has not put forward an estimated cost for a particular measure, as the RRF is not covering any cost. Many RRPs contain measures for which the Member State has not put forward any estimated cost, so-called “zero-cost measures”. While the inclusion of zero-cost measures does not increase the Member State’s financial allocation, it ties the disbursement of RRF support to the achievement of the milestones and targets linked to the implementation of these measures. Since the RRF does not cover any costs for such measures, there cannot be double funding, even if another EU fund finances their implementation in part or in full.

The RRF Regulation provides that Member States should put in place a control system to avoid double funding, where the Commission assesses the arrangements described in the recovery and resilience plan. In practice, this means that Member States are required to avoid double funding when implementing the RRF by:

·Including in their RRP sufficient information and evidence clearly demonstrating that the amount of the estimated total cost of each reform and each investment is not covered by existing or planned Union financing. In cases where RRF funding is combined with other EU funds to support a measure, this needs to be clearly identified in the estimated costs, setting out the part of the estimated costs financed by the RRF and the part financed by other EU funds;

·Detailing the procedures, structures and arrangements set up at national and regional levels aiming to ensure the avoidance of double funding; and

·Referring in their RRP to the arrangements for monitoring the implementation of the RRF.

The adequacy of controls intended to prevent, detect and correct double funding is monitored throughout the assessment and implementation of RRPs. During the assessment of the plans, the Commission assesses the absence of double funding for all RRF measures as well as the control arrangements described by Member States. Where relevant, specific audit and control milestones to address weaknesses in the national systems are set and must be complied with as a prerequisite to unlock subsequent disbursements. A Member State’s control system is assessed again in case of an amendment of the RRP. If the original arrangements of the system contain deficiencies, audit and control milestones are established in the respective Council implementing decision, including for issues related to double funding. During the implementation of the plans, the Commission verifies the management declarations and summaries of audits submitted by Member States along with payment requests, covering also the checks carried out by national authorities to avoid double funding. This assessment is complemented by system and ex-post audits conducted by the Commission, including on double funding. Ultimately, where double funding is identified but not corrected by the Member State, the Commission can recover RRF funds directly from the Member State. As the prevention of double funding is a key element of the Commission’s and Member States’ control and audit strategies, the Commission and its services have provided relevant guidance and tools since the early stages of the RRF 9 to support national authorities in exercising their responsibility to prevent and detect double funding.

(1)

Article 63(9) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy.

(2)

Article 23(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/694 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 establishing the Digital Europe Programme.

(3)

Article 15(4) of Regulation (EU) 2021/695 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 establishing Horizon Europe.

(4)

Article 19(1) Regulation (EU) 2021/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility.

(5)

Article 191 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1046 if the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012.

(6)

This includes Commission services guidance to Member States on their Recovery and Resilience Plans, SWD (2021) 12 ( https://commission.europa.eu/publications/guidance-member-states-recovery-and-resilience-plans-part-1_en ), C/2024/4618 Commission Notice – Guidance on recovery and resilience plans ( http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/4618/oj ).

(7)

See Part II.V section on “Complementarity of funding and avoidance of double funding” in C/2024/4990.

(8)

In cases where the other EU funding does not reimburse cost (Innovation Fund) but also operates on an ex-ante cost estimate basis, this check is replaced by a comparison of the two ex-ante cost estimates from RRF and other EU fund side to ensure that no more than 100 % of the total ex-ante cost estimate has been allocated.

(9)

See for example Commission guidance to Member States on their Recovery and Resilience Plans, SWD (2021) 12 ( https://commission.europa.eu/publications/guidance-member-states-recovery-and-resilience-plans-part-1_en ).

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 10.10.2024

COM(2024) 474 final

ANNEX

to the

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Annex V: Final recipients under the Recovery and Resilience Facility

This annex further clarifies the concept of final recipients under the RRF Regulation and the scope of the publication of data on the 100 final recipients receiving the highest amount of funding for the implementation of measures under the RRF, as required by Article 25a of the RRF Regulation.

Who is a final recipient under the RRF?

Definition

The definition of final recipients stems directly from Article 22, paragraph 2, point (d) of the RRF Regulation. In accordance with that provision, a final recipient is the last entity receiving funds for an RRF measure that is not a contractor or a sub-contractor. This is to be distinguished from the beneficiaries, which under the Facility are the Member States. In the absence of a different definition of final recipients in other articles of the RRF Regulation, the definition of Article 22, paragraph 2, point (d) must be applied systematically when interpreting other provisions of the Regulation, most notably its Article 25a, in line with common interpretation principles and in order to ensure a uniform and consistent implementation of the Regulation.

Some key terms of the definition warrant a more detailed explanation:

·“the last entity”: A final recipient can either be a natural (e.g. a citizen) or a legal person (e.g. a ministry, public agency, regional or local authority, association, charity, or business). Intermediary recipients of funding (e.g. ministries or agencies that are not the contracting authority but are merely distributing funds further) should not be considered as the last entity (see also the section below for further guidance).

·“receiving funds”: To be considered a final recipient, the entity should have received a monetary transfer 1 for the purposes indicated in the relevant RRF measure as set out in the Council Implementing Decision (CID).

·“for an RRF measure”: the final recipient is receiving funds from the national budget to implement a measure in the CID.

·“that is not a contractor or a sub-contractor”: Article 22, paragraph (2), point (d) of the RRF Regulation mentions final recipients as separate entities from contractors and sub-contractors 2 .

Specifically in relation to the list of the 100 largest final recipients, Article 25a, paragraph (2), point (c), requires that the “amount received by each recipient” is included in the information published. In this context, the commitment of funds and mere signing of a legal commitment (e.g. award of contract) to a final recipient is not sufficient to establish that an amount has been received, since this provision (and the correct identification of the final recipients having received the highest amount) should be based on payments that have taken place 3 .

Public authorities

It needs to be determined on a measure-by-measure basis who is the final recipient, including if a public authority is the last entity receiving funds (other than a contractor or sub-contractor). One example where a public authority could be considered the final recipient would be the construction of a public hospital if the public authority receives funds and signs direct construction contracts with contractors without involving further intermediaries.

Conversely, if the public authority entrusts another entity to sign the necessary contracts to implement the measure, so that the public authority does not sign direct contracts with the contractors, that entity receiving funds and signing the contracts should be considered as the final recipient. For instance, this could be the case where the public authority uses a separate agency for the implementation of a measure, which organises the call for tender and signs the contracts with the contractor.

In the case of implementing bodies managing funds (e.g. managing indirect funding programmes for SMEs, or a governmental agency managing payment flows to other public authorities), these are usually not considered as final recipients of a given measure because of the reasons explained above.

There are also cases where a public authority can have a dual role, managing funds for one measure and being the final recipient of another. It is important to note that in this case, the public authority will not be considered a final recipient of the first measure, whereas it should be considered a final recipient of the other measure.

Whilst the determination of whom is the final recipient will always need to be done on a measure-by-measure basis, on the basis of the definition outlined above, a number of examples of where the final recipient is a public authority are presented below. In all such cases, the public body is the last entity receiving funds for an RRF measure that is not a contractor or subcontractor:

1.In an entirely public investment, where a public body receives funds for an RRF measure that benefits the public sphere. For example, the Greek Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is designated as the final recipient for the construction of the Central Greece Highway, whereas the contractors and subcontractors of the highway project are not final recipients. In another example, in Germany, the education ministries of the different German federal regions are the final recipients of the RRF funds that they use to purchase the digital devices being provided to individual publicly owned schools.

2.Where a public body receives funds for an RRF measure that involves providing services to the private sector and/or citizens. There are two scenarios:

I.The public body can provide the service itself, as is the case with the Biotechnical educational centre Ljubljana which will deliver trainings to mentors in companies, or the Academic Medical Centres of Amsterdam and Maastricht in the Netherlands, which receive the subsidy to provide e-health services to patients in their homes.

II.The public body could outsource the provision of the services, as is the case with the Authority for the Digitalisation of Romania, which is funding a programme that allows access to upskilling/reskilling of SME employees based on the applications submitted by their employers, with the trainings being provided by selected training firms (directly paid for their services by the Authority for the Digitalisation of Romania). These training firms are contractors, therefore, they cannot be considered final recipients.

Both in (i) and (ii), the final recipients are the public bodies receiving funds for the relevant RRF measures.

Holding companies

In the case of a holding company, owning/controlling several companies, it must be assessed on a case-by-case basis whether a group of companies forms one final recipient for the purposes of the RRF Regulation.

If the contract, grant, or equivalent instrument is awarded to the holding company, the determination of who is the final recipient depends on what basis the contract, grant or equivalent instrument was awarded. If it was awarded “just” to the holding company (i.e. not to one or several companies that are part of the group), the final recipient is only the holding company. If it was awarded directly to companies that are part of the group, all the involved entities would equally be considered to be final recipients. If it was awarded to the subsidiary (i.e. not the holding company or companies that are part of the group), that subsidiary is the final recipient.

Final recipients of reforms & zero-cost measures

‘Zero-cost measures’ are measures for which Member States did not include any expected costs in the ex-ante ‘cost estimate’ submitted with their recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) 4 . Whilst this predominantly covers reforms, there are such cases also for investments.

The RRF Regulation does not distinguish between measures that included expected costs and measures that did not include expected costs. In this respect, obligations that apply to RRF measures regarding the collection and storage of data on final recipients apply regardless of whether a measure had expected costs or not. In line with Article 22 of the RRF Regulation, what matters is whether there has been a “use of funds in relation to measures supported by the Facility” 5 where “funds” should be understood as any public funding received in relation to measures included in the RRP, be it from national or EU sources (not limited to the RRF), in line with what is provided for by Article 22(2), point (d)(iv).

·To the extent that there is such a use of public funds (regardless of what the expected cost was), entities that are the last to receive such funds should be considered as final recipients.

·To the extent that there is no such use of public funds (regardless of what the expected cost was), there is no final recipient.

Although the RRF Regulation does not introduce any distinction with legal implications between reforms and investments, for reforms there is an assumption that zero-cost reforms do not entail national expenditure. Such an assumption can be rebutted if the Council Implementing Decision clearly provides for national expenditure (e.g. conduct a procurement to procure a study).

Scope of reporting for the publication of data on the 100 largest final recipients

In accordance with Article 25a of the RRF Regulation, Member States are required to report on the 100 final recipients receiving the highest amount of funding under the RRF. To this end, the aggregate funding received for the implementation of any RRF-supported measure (be it supported by repayable or non-repayable support) over the lifetime of the RRF should be taken into consideration, i.e. all public funding necessary to implement the relevant milestone(s) or target(s) under the CID. The amount of funding received should be calculated in a cumulative way as of 1 February 2020 until the time of reporting for each final recipient, across all measures supported by the RRF.

Member States should consider any measure included in their RRPs where there has already been a disbursement to a final recipient, irrespective of whether the Member State has already completed the relevant milestones and targets, submitted a payment request, or received funding under the Facility. This is because Member States receive disbursements ex-post once the Commission has assessed that relevant milestones and targets have been satisfactorily fulfilled (and independently from any expenditure incurred).

Data to be provided

Article 25a of the RRF Regulation specifies which data is required to be published, namely:

a.in the case of a legal person, the recipient’s full legal name and VAT identification number or tax identification number, where available, or another unique identifier established at the national level;

b.in the case of a natural person, the first and last name of the recipient; 

c.the amount received by each recipient, as well as the associated measures for which a Member State has received funding under the Facility.

In addition, beyond the requirements of the RRF Regulation, Member States are encouraged to provide additional information on the specific projects which receive funds from their RRP (e.g. location, state of implementation, received amount), which will then also feed into the interactive map of RRF-supported projects available on the RRF website.

Member States may publish a list going beyond the minimum of 100 set by the RRF Regulation.

When to report

The amended RRF Regulation does not set a specific deadline for Member States to update the data on the (at least) 100 largest final recipients. However, it does introduce an obligation for Member States to update this published data twice a year. Given that the Commission must centralise and publish the data, it has invited Member States to update the data published on their national portals and to share that updated data with the Commission at the same time as the bi-annual reporting exercise, in April and October.

Considerations regarding personal data for the publication of data on the 100 largest final recipients

In accordance with Article 25a(4) of the RRF Regulation, and in order to ensure proportionality and respect of privacy, where final recipients are natural persons, where personal data are published, the information should be removed by the Member State concerned two years after the end of the financial year in which the funding has been paid to the final recipient. This provision only applies when personal data are published, meaning when the final recipient is a natural person. Moreover, the provision applies not from the date of publication but “two years after the end of the financial year in which the funding has been provided to the final recipient.” This requires the data should not be deleted two years after publication, but two years after the end of the financial year when that recipient last received RRF funding.

Member States need to update the data twice a year and can choose to delete old data sets after two years (unless such data sets include personal data, in which case such data should be deleted, see the previous paragraph). The Commission recalls that records are to be kept even after the deletion of the above data from the public domain, in line with Article 132 of the Financial Regulation, as also referenced in Article 11(1)(d) of the Financing Agreement and where applicable, Article 20(1)(d) of the Loan Agreement.

Nonetheless, information removed on this basis should continue to be taken into account when calculating the consolidated amount of funds received, should the same natural person receive further funding.

In addition, a few exceptions to the publication of data, provided for in Article 25a(3) of the RRF Regulation, with reference to Article 38(3) of the Financial Regulation, are applicable to the RRF. These concern the following cases:

·education support paid to natural persons and any other direct support paid to natural persons most in need such as unemployed persons and refugees (Article 191(4)(b) Financial Regulation).

·very low value contracts awarded to experts selected on the basis of their professional capacity (Article 237(2) Financial Regulation) as well as very low value contracts below EUR 15 000 (the amount referred to in point 14.4 of Annex I to the Financial Regulation).

·financial support provided through financial instruments for an amount lower than EUR 500 000.

·where disclosure risks threatening the rights and freedoms of the persons or entities concerned as protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union or harming the commercial interests of the recipients.

In Article 25a(3) of the RRF Regulation, and following administrative practice, information on final recipients of financial support granted under direct management for amounts below EUR 15 000 (cf. the reporting exemption under the Financial Regulation for “very low value contracts awarded to experts selected on the basis of their professional capacity (Article 237(2) Financial Regulation) as well as very low value contracts below EUR 15 000”) is not required to be published.

In any event, the recipients of such low values are unlikely to make it to the list of the 100 largest final recipients that Member States are required to publish under the RRF Regulation.

Considerations regarding amounts to be reported for the publication of data on the 100 largest final recipients

The amount of RRF funds received by a final recipient as referred to in Article 25a, paragraph (2), point (c) should be reported in EUR. Amounts received in other currencies should be converted to EUR using the latest monthly conversion rate used by the European Commission (Inforeuro: https://commission.europa.eu/funding-tenders/procedures-guidelines-tenders/information-contractors-and-beneficiaries/exchange-rate-inforeuro_en) as applicable for the reporting date, i.e. the applicable conversion rate should be chosen as close as possible to the reporting date.

(1)

Where the final recipient is a (regional/local) public authority, there may not always be a monetary transfer between the different public authorities. Therefore, in such cases, this may also cover the allocation of budgetary payment appropriations, i.e., the amounts that are made available in a budget to execute payments in line with budgetary commitments.

(2)

Where a contracting authority directly signs contracts with the contractors for the implementation of the RRF measure, this contracting authority is the final recipient (see further examples of public entities being final recipients of RRF measures below). There may also be cases where a separate agency or private company uses contractors, in which case the agency or private company should be considered as the final recipient.

(3)

This is without prejudice to the obligation stipulated in Article 22(2)(d)(i) – (iii) of the RRF Regulation to collect data on final recipients, contractors, sub-contractors and beneficial owners for the purpose of audit and control and to provide for comparable information on the use of funds already at the commitment stage (i.e., when the grant agreement or contract is concluded).

(4)

Many RRPs contain measures for which the Member State has not put forward any estimated cost, so-called “zero-cost measures”. While the inclusion of zero-cost measures does not increase the Member State’s financial allocation, it ties the disbursement of RRF support to the achievement of the milestones and targets linked to the implementation of these measures.

(5)

This is without prejudice to Article 9 of the RRF Regulation, which provides that ‘Reforms and investment projects may receive support from other Union programmes and instruments provided that such support does not cover the same cost.’ Hence, as regards possible double funding, if the Member State has declared no costs under the RRP – i.e. it is a zero-cost measure – by definition, there cannot be any double funding of such a measure.