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Within the framework of its Recovery and Resilience Facility to mitigate the economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the European Union is making EUR 723.8 billion available to support reforms and investments undertaken by Member States – EUR 385.8 billion in loans and EUR 338 billion in grants. In my previous blog from November 2020, I gave an overview of the planning phase of the national Recovery and Resilience Programmes (RRP), showing that in most countries, subnational actors were just informed, but not at all involved in the planning of this extraordinary and large financial package.

The European Commission has received national Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRP) from 14 countries to access the bloc's €750 billion recovery fund. 13 of the EU's 27 member states are still missing from the list.

Last week, just before the Friday deadline, the finance ministers of Germany, France, Italy, and Spain urged member states to submit their recovery plans and pressed the European Commission to speed up the assessment of the investment and reform proposals.

The Municipality of Athens has been honored at the CDP Europe Awards 2021 for its set of actions aimed at achieving “green recovery” in the post-Covid-19 era. CDP is a not-for-profit charity that runs a global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. In 2020, for a second …

Si elles sont responsables de près des trois quarts des émissions de CO2, les villes sont aujourd’hui les premières à payer les conséquences du réchauffement climatique. Si la pandémie a accéléré cette prise de conscience, les plans de relance pourraient offrir une opportunité historique de mettre en œuvre rapidement de nombreuses solutions efficaces et bénéfiques pour les territoires…

Where the economy does not demonstrate a regular growth path, debt, plus compounded interest payments threatens to bring ruin and destitution

Eight EU member states have yet to submit their national recovery and resilience plans to the European Commission to access EU post-crisis funds for COVID-19, while 19 countries have already done so, including Portugal.

The Green Recovery Tracker assesses the contribution of EU member states’ national recovery plans to the green transition. The assessment is based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis conducted in partnership with local experts.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has called on EU member states to speed up delivery of their national spending plans in order tap into the EU's €750 billion recovery fund, but concerns have been raised over a lack of transparency on how the money may be spent.

Eight months have passed since Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented Europe’s recovery efforts before the European Parliament. During this time, our Union has made history, write Luis Garicano, Martin Hojsík and Gergely Karácsony.

Regional and local leaders and EU Commissioner for Cohesion and Reform Elisa Ferreira discussed on 4 February how to accelerate the launch of new cohesion policy programmes, ensure their timely implementation and integrate them with national recovery plans. ​
 As a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Union secured an unprecedented amount of investment for a fair, green and digital recovery. React EU, the Just Transition Fund, the European Fund for Regional Development, the Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European agricultural fund for rural development as well as the Recovery and Resilience Facility form a unique toolbox that can deliver an inclusive recovery as well as fair green and digital transitions.
Absorbing and implementing all available EU funds is a demanding challenge for national, regional and local governments. As highlighted by the plenary debate, centralisation and top down solutions risk undermine the investment impact in several member states. For this reason, CoR members and Commissioner Ferreira called for the full involvement of regional and local governments in the design of comprehensive recovery plans, in line with the partnership principle, in order to make the best possible use of the synergies between all the available instruments.

Brexit will reduce whatever income people have remaining for discretionary expenditure, not to mention making servicing debt more difficult.