European Parliament approves €672.5b Recovery and Resiliency Facility

The European Parliament has approved the Recovery and Resilience Facility, designed to help EU countries tackle the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

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The European Parliament has approved the Recovery and Resilience Facility, designed to help EU countries tackle the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The regulation on the objectives, financing and rules for accessing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) was adopted with 582 votes in favour, 40 against and 69 abstentions.

The RRF is the biggest building block of the €750 billion Next Generation EU recovery package.

€672.5 billion in grants and loans will be available to finance national measures designed to alleviate the economic and social consequences of the pandemic. Related projects that began on or after 1 February 2020 can be financed by the RRF, too.

The funding will be available for three years and EU governments can request up to 13% pre-financing for their recovery and resilience plans.

To be eligible for financing, national recovery and resilience plans must focus on key EU policy areas – the green transition including biodiversity, digital transformation, economic cohesion and competitiveness, and social and territorial cohesion.

Those that focus on how institutions react to crisis and supporting them to prepare for it, as well as policies for children and youth, including education and skills, are also eligible for financing.

Each plan has to dedicate at least 37% of its budget to climate and at least 20% to digital actions. They should have a lasting impact in both social and economic terms, include comprehensive reforms and a robust investment package, and must not significantly harm environmental objectives.

The regulation also stipulates that only member states committed to respecting the rule of law and the European Union’s fundamental values can receive money from the RRF.

The European Commission, which is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the RRF, may be asked to appear before Parliament’s relevant committees every two months to discuss the state of the EU recovery and how the targets and milestones have been implemented by member states.

The Commission will also make an integrated information and monitoring system available to the member states to provide comparable information on how funds are being used.

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