Recovery fund: Council greenlights amended national plans for 13 states
The Council adopted implementing decisions approving the amended recovery and resilience plans of Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland and Romania.
Most of the amended recovery and resilience plans now include a new REPowerEU chapter. This will contribute to accelerating the countries' transition towards clean energy, diversifying their energy supplies and improving their energy efficiency.
To finance the increased ambition of their plans, most member states have requested to transfer their share of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) to the plans, in line with the REPowerEU Regulation.
According to the analysis by the Commission, the modifications put forward by the member states do not affect the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and coherence of their recovery and resilience plans.
Belgium
On 20 July 2023, Belgium submitted a modified recovery and resilience plan, including a REPowerEU chapter.
The modified plan has a significant focus on the green transition, allocating 51% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives, which is well above the required target of 37%. Moreover, the plan will devote 27% of its allocation towards supporting the digital transition.
The EU contribution to the Belgian plan will be €5,3 billion in grants and loans.
Bulgaria
On 29 September 2023, Bulgaria submitted a modified recovery and resilience plan. It doesn’t include a REPowerEU chapter.
The revision adjusts the EU contribution to the Bulgarian plan in accordance with the update of the allocation key that took in place in June 2022. The total contribution available to Bulgaria has gone down from €6.3 billion to €5.7 billion in grants.
Croatia
On 31 August 2023, Croatia submitted its amended recovery and resilience plan, which includes a new REPowerEU chapter.
The plan is now worth €10 billion including €5.8 billion in grants and €4.2 billion in loans.
The plan allocates 39% of funds to support climate objectives, while 20% of funds will be used to underpin the country's digital transition.
Cyprus
On 1 September 2023, Cyprus submitted its amended recovery and resilience plan, which now includes a REPowerEU chapter.
The plan is now worth €1.22 billion, including €0.2 billion in loans and €1.02 billion in grants.
The new plan devotes 45% to the green transition, up from 41% in the original plan, and 24.6% to the digital transition, up from 23%. The modified plan's important social dimension is also upheld.
Finland
On 5 October 2023, Finland submitted its amended recovery and resilience plan, which includes a REPowerEU chapter.
The modified plan is rooted in the green transition, with 52.3%, up from 50.3% in the original plan, of funds being allocated to measures that support climate objectives.
The plan is now worth €1.95 billion in grants.
Germany
On 15 September 2023, Germany submitted a modified recovery and resilience plan. It does not include a REPowerEU chapter.
The revision adjusts the EU contribution to the German plan in accordance with the June 2022 update. The total contribution available to Germany will be €28 billion.
Greece
On 31 August, Greece submitted its amended recovery and resilience plan, which includes a REPowerEU chapter.
The plan contains strong provisions for the green transition, allocating 38.1% (up from 37.5% in the original plan) of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives.
The modified plan contributes to the digital transition with 22.1% of its funds.
The plan is now worth €35.95 billion, with €18.22 billion in Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) grants and €17.73 billion in RRF loans.
Hungary
On 31 August 2023, Hungary submitted its amended recovery and resilience plan, which includes a new REPowerEU chapter.
The total financial contribution available to Hungary will now be €10.4 billion, €6.5 billion in grants and €3.9 billion in loans.
The modified plan puts significant emphasis on the green transition, allocating 67.1% of available funds to measures that support climate objectives, up from 48.1% in the original plan.
The plan has an important social dimension and foresees that 29.1% of funds are dedicated to realising Hungary's digital ambitions.
Ireland
On 26 October 2023, Ireland submitted its amended recovery and resilience plan. The revised plan does not contain a REPowerEU chapter.
The revision adjusts the EU contribution to the Irish plan in accordance with the June 2022 update. The total contribution available to Ireland will be €914 million in grants.
Italy
On 7 August 2023, Italy submitted its amended recovery and resilience plan, which includes a REPowerEU chapter.
The modified plan has a strong focus on the green transition, devoting 39%, up from 37.5% in the original plan, of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives.
The plan is now worth €194.4 billion, €122.6 billion in loans and €71.8 billion in grants, and reinforces Italy's digital preparedness and maintains its important social dimension.
Latvia
On 26 September 2023, Latvia submitted a modified recovery and resilience plan.
The plan is now worth €1.97 billion in grants.
The new plan has a strong focus on the green transition, allocating 42% of funds, compared to 37.6% in the original plan, to support climate objectives.
Moreover, Latvia has committed 23%, up from 21% in the original plan, of its funds to boosting the digital transition.
Poland
On 31 August 2023, Poland submitted its amended recovery and resilience plan, which includes a REPowerEU chapter.
The modified plan allocates 46.6% of funds, up from 42.7% in the original plan, to support the green transition, while Poland has also planned for 21.3% of the available funds to contribute to the digital transition.
The total contribution available to Poland is €59.8 billion, with €34.5 billion in loans and €25.3 billion in grants.
Romania
On 8 September 2023, Romania submitted its amended recovery and resilience fund, which includes a REPowerEU chapter.
Romania will be attributed €28.5 billion, €14.9 billion in loans and €13.6 billion in grants.
The modified plan convey Romania's strong focus on the green transition, with 44.1% up from 41% in the original plan of funds being dedicated to measures that support climate objectives.
Moreover, the plan still improves Romania's digital preparedness and social resilience, allocating 21.8%, up from 20.5%, to support the country's digital transition.
Background
The recovery and resilience facility (RRF) is the EU’s programme of large-scale financial support in response to the challenges the pandemic has posed to the European economy. It is the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU, a temporary recovery instrument that allows the Commission to raise funds to help repair the immediate economic and social damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
To benefit from the facility’s €724 billion (in current prices), member states submit recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) to the Commission, setting out the reforms and investments they intend to implement by the end of 2026.
To date, all RRPs have been approved, 40 payment requests have been received from 23 member states, and €175.63 billion have been disbursed.
Regulation 2023/241 as regards REPowerEU chapters, in force since 1 March 2023, increases the RRF financial envelope by €20 billion in new grants. In addition, member states are able to voluntarily transfer up to €5.4 billion from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve to the RRF to finance REPowerEU measures. This comes on top of the existing transfer possibilities of 5% from the cohesion policy funds (up to €17.9 billion).
All member states have submitted amendments to their national recovery and resilience plans at least once, to access the new REPowerEU grants, to request available loans, or to take into account the updated RRF allocation.