(1) The same person can use the service multiple times, in which case they would be counted multiple times.
(*) The latest information on fulfilled milestones and targets and payments made is available on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard.
Budget for 2021-2027
[notranslate]RRFWeb:budg_01:pie[/notranslate]
Rationale and design of the programme
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is a funding programme with the objective to promote cohesion by mitigating the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 crisis and make EU economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.
In addition, following the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the consecutive energy crisis, on 18 May 2022 the European Commission proposed the REPowerEU package which inter alia modifies the Recovery and Resilience Facility regulation and other legislative acts. The legislative change allows Member States to add a REPowerEU chapter to their national recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) to finance key investments and reforms to diversify energy supplies and reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels. A political agreement was reached between the Council and the European Parliament in December 2022, and the legal text entered into force on 1 March 2023.In 2023, Member States amended their recovery and resilience plans to adjust to the updated maximum financial contribution, request additional loan support, take into account the impact of objective circumstances and to add a new REPowerEU chapter.
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated an urgent and coordinated response both at the EU level and the national level, in order to respond to the enormous economic and social consequences (as well as asymmetrical effects) for the Member States, which would have led to higher divergences and inequalities in the EU.
NextGenerationEU, the EU recovery instrument, supports the EU’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and strengthens resilience against future shocks. The Recovery and Resilience Facility is its centrepiece as an unprecedented EU programme for an unprecedented time. The Recovery and Resilience Facility provides a mid- to long-term response to help the recovery and build institutional capacity through reforms and investments to be implemented by the Member States until 2026, with an impact lasting well beyond this period.
The crisis is likely to have different long-term effects on Member States, depending on their starting position, the severity of their pandemic situations, their economic resilience and their ability to take adequate measures on their own. The medium- and long-term consequences of the COVID-19 crisis critically depend on how quickly Member State economies and societies recover from the COVID-19 crisis, which in turn depends on the available fiscal space of Member States to take measures to mitigate the social and economic impact of the crisis – and on the resilience of their economies and social structures.
Sustainable and growth-enhancing reforms and investments are essential to set the Member State economies back on track and reduce inequalities and divergences in the EU.
An initiative of the scale of the Recovery and Resilience Facility must be forward looking: the Recovery and Resilience Facility aims not just to rebuild the EU economy and strengthen resilience, but also to ensure a sustainable recovery that mitigates the economic and social impact of the crisis and advances the green and digital transitions, all while fostering economic convergence and resilience.
In response to recent events such as high energy prices, disruption of supply chains, or the socioeconomic consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the Commission proposed a REPowerEU plan with the objective to rapidly reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels by fast forwarding the clean energy transition and joining forces to achieve a more resilient energy system and a true Energy Union.
The RRF plays an important role in the funding of this plan. The Facility supports Member States in putting forward additional reforms and investments or in scaling up existing measures.
As the centrepiece of the NextGenerationEU, the Recovery and Resilience Facility promotes economic, social and territorial cohesion, job creation and sustainable growth, as well as resilience and preparedness for the future. It offers large-scale financial support for public investments and reforms across the fields of public policy signified by the six pillars of article 3 of the Recovery and Resilience Facility regulation: green transition; digital transformation; smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; social and territorial cohesion; health, and economic, social and institutional resilience; and policies for the next generation, children and youth. Indirectly, the Recovery and Resilience Facility also provides funding for private investments, channelled through public schemes.
Crucially, at least 37% and 20% of the financial allocation of each Member State should respectively support climate and digital investment and reforms.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is financed through EU borrowing as set out in Regulation (EU) 2020/2094 (the ‘EURI regulation’). Payments to Member States can take place up to 31 December 2026 for both non-repayable financial support and loan support. Budgetary commitments are made upon approval of the plans by the Council and the signature of the financing and (where relevant) loan agreements, as well as an operational arrangement detailing monitoring mechanisms, with the respective Member State. Payments will be made once the Member State satisfactorily fulfils the related milestones and targets and can be disbursed up to twice per year.
The general objective of the Facility is to promote the EU’s economic, social and territorial cohesion by improving the resilience, crisis preparedness, adjustment capacity and growth potential of the Member States. To this end, the Facility aims at mitigating the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis, in particular on women, by contributing to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, by supporting the green and digital transition, thereby contributing to the upward economic and social convergence, restoring and promoting sustainable growth and the integration of the economies of the EU, fostering high quality employment creation, and contributing to the strategic autonomy of the EU alongside an open economy and generating European added value.
The specific objective of the Recovery and Resilience Facility is to provide Member States with financial support with a view to achieving the milestones and targets of reforms and investments set out in recovery and resilience plans.
Each Member State submitted a recovery and resilience plan detailing reforms and investments it plans to implement. Each disbursement is subject to the Member State’s satisfactory fulfilment of a set of milestones and targets, which in turn capture the progress made in the implementation of the specific reforms and investments set out in the recovery and resilience plan.
With the REPowerEU plan, the amending Regulation COM(2022)231 final introduced six additional objectives for the RRF. Through the addition of REPowerEU chapters to their national recovery and resilience plans, Member States put forward additional reforms and investments or scaled up existing measures to meet the objectives of the REPowerEU plan.
REPowerEU reforms and investments contribute to i) improving energy infrastructure and facilities, ii) boosting energy efficiency, iii) addressing energy poverty, iv) incentivising the reduction of energy demand, v) addressing internal and cross-border energy transmission and distribution bottlenecks, and vi) supporting an accelerated requalification of the workforce towards green and related digital skills.
In 2023, 23 Member States included a REPowerEU chapter in their revised RRPs. Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland and Luxembourg did not submit a REPowerEU chapter in 2023.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility provides non-repayable financial support (grants) as well as repayable financial support (loans) to Member States to support the public investments and reforms set out in the national recovery and resilience plans.
The Facility allows the Commission to disburse funds to support the Member States to implement reforms and investments which contribute to the COVID-19 recovery, and build resilience. These must be in line with the EU’s priorities and address the challenges identified in country-specific recommendations under the European Semester framework of economic and social policy coordination. The structural set-up consists in the provision of grants and loans to Member States. More precisely, the Facility makes available EUR 723.8 billion (in 2022 prices) in loans (EUR 385.8 billion) and grants (EUR 338 billion). In terms of funds committed, RRPs initially amounted to EUR 500.5 billion. Following the 2023 revisions, EUR 647.7 billion have been committed. The revised recovery and resilience plans include EUR 356.8 bilion in grant and EUR 290.9 billion in loan support.
Additionally, the amended RRF Regulation made available EUR 20 billion in Emissions Trading System (ETS) auctioning revenues and up to EUR 5.4 billion in voluntary transfers from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) to fund the measures included in the new REPowerEU chapters. By the end of 2023, 23 REPowerEU chapters were approved (excluding Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland and Luxembourg). The total allocation of ETS auctioning revenues and voluntary BAR transfers to REPowerEU chapters committed by the end of 2023 amounts to EUR 17 284 865 135 in ETS auctioning revenues and EUR 1 585 231 692 in BAR transfers. Once the outstanding REPowerEU chapters are adopted, the remaining funds from ETS auctions and the BAR will be committed.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is implemented by the Commission in direct management in accordance with the financial regulation. DG Economic and Financial Affairs and the Recovery and Resilience Task Force (SG-RECOVER) work in close cooperation to steer the design and implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
While coordinating the implementation of the Facility jointly with SG-RECOVER, DG Economic and Financial Affairs is also the Authorising Officer for paying out loans and grants within the Facility. Therefore, DG Economic and Financial Affairs has to give reasonable assurance on the Recovery and Resilience Facility funds paid to the Member States and is responsible for applying any financial corrections if necessary, following ex post audit work.
Moreover, the Commission decision of July 2020 set up the Steering Board chaired by the President and composed of the three Executive Vice-Presidents, the Member of the Commission responsible for the Economy, the Secretary-General, and representatives of the Legal Services, DG Economic and Financial Affairs and SG RECOVER. This Steering Board has been involved in the validation of the assessment of all recovery and resilience plans, prior to the adoption of the proposals for Council Implementing Decisions by the Commission.
All payment requests are subject to two Commission-wide interservice consultations, underpinning the collegiality of this process, one on the preliminary assessment, a second on the Commission decision on payment. The Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) expresses an opinion on the Commission’s preliminary assessment. Furthermore, as provided under Article 35 of the regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility, a Recovery and Resilience Facility Committee (composed of representatives of all Member States) was established, to discuss the draft Commission implementing decisions concerning Member States’ payment requests. The Parliament is thoroughly informed and kept abreast of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, notably through regular Recovery and Resilience Dialogues as established by the RRF regulation, and a dedicated RRF Working Group established by the Parliament. Documentation is transmitted on equal terms to Parliament and Council and all key documents are also published.
The intervention logic (see figure below), comprises the following elements:
- Needs as described in the RRF Regulation (e.g. recital 6). The extent to which the RRF is addressing the needs is assessed under the relevance criterion.
- Objectives as stated in Article 4 of the RRF Regulation. The extent of the RRF’s contribution to these objectives is assessed under the effectiveness criterion, while the relation of the RRF objectives/measures to other instruments (e.g. Cohesion Policy financing and national instruments) is reviewed under the coherence criterion.
- Inputs refer to the financial inputs (non-repayable financial support and loans) as well as the human resources and administrative processed needed to manage and implement the RRF. Issues related to the disbursements are included in the effectiveness analysis, while cost and administrative issues are covered in the efficiency analysis.
- Outputs are defined as the disbursements performed and the achievements of milestones and targets. These are the first elements that are assessed under effectiveness.
- Results are emanating from the reforms and investments implemented by Member States, in accordance with the plans and the objectives of the RRF. They are discussed in the analysis of effectiveness and coherence (e.g. on the reinforcement of investments and reforms).
- Impacts of the RRF are expected to be as wide as the identified objectives and needs. Given that this mid-term evaluation is performed early in the implementation of the RRF, impacts cannot be expected to have significantly materialised yet. The analysis on effectiveness includes considerations on the contribution of the RRF to the expected impacts.
- External factors have also affected the implementation of the RRF and are captured in this mid-term evaluation.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is a novel instrument – indeed, a historic one. There are no precursors for it in the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework.
Programme website:
Relevant regulation:
- Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
- Commission Delegated Regulations (EU) 2021/2105 and (EU) 2021/2106 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2021/241.
- COM(2022) 231 final, 18 May 2022: Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EU) 2021/241 as regards REPowerEU chapters in RRPs and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, Directive 2003/87/EC and Decision (EU) 2015/1814]
Budget
Budget programming (million EUR):
[notranslate]RRFWeb:budg_02:table[/notranslate]
- The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is the centrepiece of NextGeneration EU, the EU's recovery plan. It supports the way out of the COVID-19 crisis and aims at making Europe more resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions. The Facility is therefore a temporary recovery instrument to finance reforms and investments to be implemented by 2026. To finance NextGenerationEU and the RRF, the European Commission borrows funds on behalf of the EU on the capital markets.
- As set out in Article 23 of Regulation 2021/241, the Commission commits the financial contribution allocated to each recovery and resilience plan upon its adoption by the Council. Beyond the twenty-two plans adopted in 2021, in 2022, the remaining five plans were adopted, namely of Sweden, Bulgaria, Poland, The Netherlands, and Hungary.
- In line with Article 11(2) of Regulation 2021/241, the maximum financial contribution was updated in June 2022 for each Member State, taking into account the actual outturns in relation to the real GDP change 2020 and the aggregate change in real GDP for the period 2020-2021. All 27 plans were revised by the end of 2023 to take into account this change in maximum financial contribution.
Budget performance – implementation
Multiannual cumulative implementation rate for RRF grants (*) at the end of 2023 (million EUR):
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Cumulative implementation rate for additional grants (**) at the end of 2023 (million EUR):
[notranslate]RRFWeb:budg_11:table[/notranslate]
- The Facility is an innovative, performance-based instrument. Member States develop national RRPs which are assessed by the Commission and ultimately Council Implementing Decisions on these Plans adopted by the Council. Payments are made to Member States, as beneficiaries, upon delivering reforms and investments pre-agreed in their plans. The funds are therefore disbursed solely on the basis of the progress in the achievement of the reforms and investments that Member States committed to implement.
- By end 2023, all 27 recovery and resilience plans were revised in accordance with Article 11(2) of Regulation 2021/241 to reflect the updated maximum financial contribution in each plan.
- In line with the requirements of Article 14(2) of Regulation 2021/241, Member States were requested to submit loan requests until 31 August 2023. In total, EUR 385.8 billion in loan support was made available under the RRF. Loan support amounting to around EUR 165.4 billion had been allocated to seven Member States by end-2022. In 2023, as part of the revisions of the RRPs, ten Member States have requested additional loan support or requested loan support for the first time
- These additional loan requests were positively assessed by the Commission and approved by the Council. In total, around EUR 290.9 billion in current prices of loan support is committed under the RRF. Therefore, around EUR 94,9 billion in loan support was not requested by Member States, which results in an uptake of RRF loans close to 76%.
- The Commission disbursed 22 payments in 2023for a total of EUR 75 billion to 17 Member States (Austria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, France, Estonia, Romania, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Denmark, Spain, Czechia and Malta). The Commission also disbursed pre-financing for REPowerEU in 2023, for a total of EUR 7 billion. An additional EUR 3.4 billion in REPowerEU pre-financing was disbursed by end-February 2024. In addition to the EUR 138 billion disbursed in 2021 and 2022 (including pre-financing), this means the RRF disbursed a total of EUR 220 billion from its inception to the end of 2023.
- The Commission has continued monitoring the implementation of the Facility through the payment request reporting (data are regularly updated in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard), bi-annual reporting by Member States on the progress made in the achievement of their plans and frequent exchanges, including missions to the Member States.
- For each disbursement a specific set of milestones and targets must be fulfilled. In case one or more milestones or targets are not satisfactorily fulfilled, the Commission suspends all or part of the related disbursement. However, in line with the methodology for payment suspensions presented by the Commission in February 2023 (3 ), the implementation of the plan can continue and payments are made for all milestones and targets that have been satisfactorily fulfilled. The concerned Member State has six months from the date of suspension to take the necessary actions to fulfil the milestones and targets that have not been satisfactorily fulfilled. Over the course of 2023, payment suspension decisions were taken by the Commission following the non-fulfillment or the partial fulfillment of a limited number of M/Ts in the Lithuanian, Romanian and Portuguese plans. The Commission has generally encouraged Member States to submit payment requests only when all milestones and targets are fulfilled. Nevertheless, as the Commission stressed in its communication on the RRF in February 2023 (quoted above), Member States should make their best efforts to deliver the investment and reforms within the indicative timelines envisaged in the Council Implementing Decisions and the operational arrangements. This is increasingly important as the RRF enters the second half of its lifetime and it is necessary to ensure the efficient planning of the Commission's funding operations on the capital markets, timely disbursements and a full implementation of the investments and reforms as envisaged in Member States plans.
- Some Member States are facing challenges in administering funds, due in part to limited administrative capacity or investment bottlenecks. The process of revising the RRPs in 2023 represented an opportunity to address these issues and increase the absorption capacity of RRF funds. At the same time, the revisions of the plans impacted the disbursement schedule of RRF funds in 2023 . While the number of payment requests and disbursements saw a decline in the first half of 2023 as Member States focused on the revision of the plans, the pace of payment requests and disbursements increased significantly towards the end of the year.
Contribution to horizontal priorities
Green budgeting
Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):
[notranslate]RRFWeb:budg_05:table[/notranslate]
- 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 RRF regulation requires that at least 37% of the total allocation of each recovery and resilience plan (RRP) shall support measures that contribute to climate objectives. However, the reforms and investments proposed by Member States have exceeded the target, with more than 42% of the total plans’ allocation contributing to climate objectives (as calculated according to the climate tracking methodology, using Annex VI of the RRF regulation (4).
- Green measures implemented by Member States in 2023 with the support of the RRF aimed at, among other things, promoting sustainable mobility, increasing energy efficiency and the deployment of renewable energy sources, taking climate change adaptation measures, reducing air pollution, promoting the circular economy and restoring and protecting biodiversity.
- The RRF makes a significant contribution to environmental sustainability in the broader sense by addressing climate change and pollution, protecting nature, biodiversity and water resources and promoting the circular economy while not doing any significant harm to any of the six environmental objectives of the EU taxonomy. The assessment of the measures under the taxonomy criteria is possible with the use of intervention fields. Some of them set conditions that are fully, substantially or partially aligned with the criteria defined in the taxonomy regulation, which have to be reflected in the scope and design of the measures for being eligible under the respective intervention fields. Measures with an estimated budget of EUR 237 billion are fully or substantially aligned with the taxonomy sustainable contribution criteria for climate change mitigation and adaptation, while measures with further EUR 68 billion are partially aligned with these criteria.
- With the addition of repowerEU chapters to 23 recovery and resilience plans by the end of 2023, Member States included measures to address the diversification of energy supplies and stimulate the transition towards renewable energy sources. As of 2023, EUR 60 billion has been allocated to the approved repowerEU chapters.
Gender
Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):
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| Gender disaggregated information: |
|---|
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- Mitigating the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women is a clear objective of the RRF, as set out in Article 4 of its founding regulation. The RRF regulation requires Member States to explain how the measures in their RRPs contribute to gender equality and equal opportunities for all and the mainstreaming of these objectives.
- The evaluation of the impact of RRF measures on gender equality is not envisaged by the RRF regulation. However, in order to report on the number of measures with a focus on gender equality and the share of such measures included in each RRP, the Commission, in consultation with Member States, has assigned a tag to measures with a focus on gender equality, based on the methodology set out in the delegated act on social expenditure reporting under the RRF (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2105). Following the respective amendments performed in 2023, the RRPs now include 136 measures with a gender tag. The share of RRPs contributing to gender equality is shown in the recovery and resilience scoreboard. In addition, this methodology allows for an indicative reporting on the RRF gender spending, based on the estimated costs of measures assigned with a gender tag.
- National RRPs contain a wide range of measures contributing to gender equality. These include investments and reforms specifically designed to tackle inequalities based on gender (contributing to this objective with around EUR 7 917.8 million over the lifetime of the RRF) and other types of investments and reforms which are directly or indirectly supporting gender equality (corresponding to around EUR 13 947.1 million). In 2023, the first type of measures contributed to gender equality with around EUR 3 031.4 million (score 2), while the second type of investments provided support with around EUR 5 339.7 million (score 1).
- The investments fully devoted to gender equality include, for instance, the national roll-out of ‘early aid’ for socially disadvantaged pregnant women in Austria, incentives to foster female entrepreneurship in Italy, the creation of a support line for women in rural and urban areas and the set-up of a national plan to tackle gender-based violence in Spain. Investments contributing directly or indirectly to gender equality include (i) the improvement of working conditions for professions traditionally performed by women (e.g. the operationalisation of work cards for domestic workers in Romania), (ii) investments to boost up/re-skilling of disadvantaged groups, including girls and women (e.g. the SOLAS recovery skills response programme in Ireland and the national programme to increase the number of information and communications technology specialists, including funding activities to increase the engagement of women and improving their awareness of information and communications technology career opportunities, in Latvia), and (iii) investments to improve delivery of care to the elderly and people with disabilities, a task often taken up by women in the household (e.g. the improvement of home health care in Greece).
- These crucial investments are complemented by structural reforms which, while being zero-cost, will have a considerable impact on gender equality. These include the reform to close the gender pay gap in Estonia, to combat gender inequalities in Portugal, to better regulate the profession of nursing assistants in Sweden and to improve the prenatal and neonatal health screening in Bulgaria.
- The combination of investments and reforms is one of the main novelties of the RRF. National authorities have envisaged a number of measures to tackle gender-based discriminations and, as for other policy areas, the interplay between gender-related investments and reforms will ensure a higher impact of the RRF spending. Specifically, these measures are expected to make the green and digital transitions more inclusive and to improve the capacity of Member States to mainstream gender equality in their resilience policies, which are crucial as Europe keeps facing unexpected challenges.
Digital
Contribution to digital transition (million EUR):
[notranslate]RRFWeb:budg_07:table[/notranslate]
- The RRF makes a significant contribution to the digital transformation in the EU. The RRF regulation requires that at least 20% of the total allocation in each RRP support digital objectives. However, the reforms and investments proposed by Member States have exceeded the target, with around 24% of the total allocation of the plans contributing to the digital transformation (as calculated according to the digital tagging methodology set out in Annex VII of the RRF regulation).
- By the end of 2023, important steps had been taken to implement measures relating to the deployment of next-generation digital infrastructures and advanced technologies, digital skills development for the population and the workforce, and support for the digitalisation of enterprises and public services.
[notranslate]RRFWeb:budg_09:table[/notranslate]
Link to file with complete set of EU core performance indicators
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2106 defines a set of common indicators relating to the objectives of the RRF and linked to the six policy pillars. Member States report on the common indicators twice a year and the Commission calculates an aggregate for the RRF on this basis. Data on the common indicators are published and regularly updated on the recovery and resilience scoreboard: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard.
- Furthermore, some important reforms already progressed during the first 2 years of implementation of the facility:
- reforms to digitalise public administration (Slovakia) and ensure cybersecurity (Romania);
- reforms of civil and criminal justice systems to make them more efficient by reducing the length of proceedings and improving the organisation of courts (Spain, Italy);
- labour market reforms and modernisation of active labour market policies (Spain);
- reforms enhancing employment and social protection (Croatia);
- reforms to foster scientific excellence and improve the performance of universities and public research organisations (Slovakia) and to enhance the predictability and stability of public research funding (Portugal);
- reforms tackling corruption and ensuring the protection of whistle-blowers (Cyprus);
- licensing simplification reforms to boost investments in offshore renewables or reforms to create the conditions for introducing renewable hydrogen (Greece, Spain, Portugal);
- reforms to support the roll-out of renewable energy and sustainable transport (Croatia, Romania);
- reforms improving the quality of the legislative process (Bulgaria);
- regulatory changes to improve affordable housing (Latvia).
- In addition, the RRF unlocks the full potential of structural reforms by complementing them with key investments. Some of the major investments with key steps already completed include:
- investments to support the decarbonisation and energy efficiency of industry (France, for a total estimated cost of EUR 1.4 billion; Croatia, EUR 61 million);
- purchase of 600 000 new laptops to lend to teachers and pupils, and selection of digital innovation hubs to support companies in their digitisation efforts (Portugal, EUR 600 million);
- funds to increase the competitiveness of firms operating in the tourism sector, including 4 000 small and medium-sized enterprises (Italy, EUR 1.9 billion);
- investments to support vulnerable people (Italy, EUR 1 billion);
- digitisation of public administration towards digital, simple, inclusive and secure public services for citizens and businesses (Portugal, EUR 170 million);
- broadband infrastructure development (Latvia, EUR 4 million).
- In 2023, further major reforms and investments have been implemented. Such key reforms and investments entail:
- a new law on the single integrated Vocational Training System offering cumulative courses leading to new qualifications (Spain);
- a reform which introduced a single flat-rate ticket (KlimaTicket) providing nearly unlimited public transportation across Austria;
- reforms that incentivise the production of renewable energy by removing administrative barriers (Estonia, Austria)
- a reform that introduces welfare areas which aim to improve the delivery and access to social and health care services (Finland);
- funds to support the delivery of energy-efficient renovations to family homes and public buildings (Romania, EUR 2.1 billion; Slovakia, EUR 600 million);
- investments which strengthen infrastructure for digitalised public services (Czechia, EUR 6 million; Germany, EUR 2.5 million);
- investments to enhance building cabling and the rollout of 5G networks (Cyprus, EUR 10 million; Lithuania, EUR 49 million);
- Under the RRF, each milestone and target is linked to a measure which (generally) contributes towards two of the six policy pillars. The assignment of policy pillars to each measure is performed by Commission staff in consultation with Member States, after the adoption of the RRPs by the Council. Therefore, milestones and targets can contribute to more than one policy pillar according to the methodology used by the Commission to display data in the scoreboard .
- Furthermore, each RRP is required to contribute at least 37% and 20% respectively to climate and digital objectives, which is reflected in the large contribution of the twin green and digital transitions. Thus, the design of the RRF itself is set to exploit synergies between horizontal priorities, adapted to the specific gaps identified for each Member State and addressed in the RRPs.
- Milestones and targets included in payments disbursed in 2023 contributed to the six policy pillars as follows.
- Pillar 1: the green transition. A total of 301 milestones and targets were satisfactorily fulfilled. These included investments to support the extension of the electric vehicle charging network in Portugal and the sustainable renovation of buildings in Slovenia, and new legislation introducing the climate ticket for public transport in Austria.
- Pillar 2: the digital transformation. A total of 245 milestones and targets were satisfactorily fulfilled. These supported, for instance, the digitalisation of the Pension Insurance Institute’s archives in Croatia, the deployment of a 5G network in Lithuania and the approval of new curricula strengthening digital literacy and computational thinking in primary and lower-secondary education in Czechia.
- Pillar 3: smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. A total of 361 milestones and targets were satisfactorily fulfilled. These included investments to support the railway sector in France, to contribute to hydrogen projects in the framework of important projects of common European interest in Germany, and a legislative reform paving the way for new industrial parks in Greece.
- Pillar 4: social and territorial cohesion. A total of 242 milestones and targets were satisfactorily fulfilled. For example, Italy provided educational support to 20 000 minors to combat educational poverty in the south. In Luxembourg, more than 400 job seekers aged 45 years or more acquired digital and managerial skills in dedicated trainings in Luxembourg. Romania adopted new legislation promoting the social economy and the labour voucher system.
- Pillar 5: health, economic, social and institutional resilience. A total of 286 milestones and targets were satisfactorily fulfilled. These included investments to improve the uptake of the Minimum Vital Income in Spain and the publication of a smart specialisation strategy in Malta.
- Pillar 6: policies for the next generation. A total of 75 milestones and targets were satisfactorily fulfilled. For instance, Estonia invested into labour market measures to reduce youth unemployment, Spain adopted new legislation with the objective to modernise the Vocational Training System, and new legislation in Lithuania anchored competences for the green and digital transformation in vocational education and training.
- In general, more detailed Information on the state of play of implementation, disbursements per pillar and key measures achieved by Member States can be found in the recovery and resilience scoreboard, which includes links to the RRF annual reports and thematic analyses . Information about concrete projects supported under the RRF, including details on their implementation and their geo-location in the Member States’ territory, is available in an interactive map on the RRF website that is regularly updated .
Sustainable development goals
Contribution to the sustainable development goals
| SDGs the programme contributes to | Example |
|---|---|
| SDG1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported the set-up of Local Technical Units responsible for planning, managing, and coordinating the implementation of measures to combat poverty and social exclusion in Portugal’s biggest cities. |
| SDG2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and resilience Facility supported the launch of a call for the development of an open digital agricultural infrastructure and cognitive agriculture environment for the production process and management of natural resources in Greece. |
| SDG3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported the entry into force of legislation that determines the primary care network on the basis of availability of doctors and up-to-date capacity needs in Slovakia. |
| SDG4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported the entry into force of the School Digitalisation Act, which provides a framework for better in-service teacher training, improved school infrastructure, and improving the learning material portal in Bulgaria. |
| SDG5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported the approval of the Spanish Public Health Strategy, which incorporates a gender and equity perspective in all public health actions. |
| SDG6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported the entry into force of the reform to integrate water services into a unique operator for every Optimal Territorial Area, incentivise sustainable water use in agriculture, and support the use of the common monitoring system for water in Italy. |
| SDG7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported the entry into force of legislation to improve institutional and legal mechanisms to promote the production, transmission, and consumption of electricity from renewable sources in Lithuania. |
| SDG8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported the digital transformation of Romanian SMEs by increasing the digital skills of their employees with a call for Grant Support for Digital Skills. |
| SDG9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported a deduction scheme for all companies to increasingly engage in research and development investments, incentivising private sector innovation in Denmark. |
| SDG10 Reduce inequalities within and among countries | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilience Facility supported the set-up of an investment meant to increase passenger transport, taking into account adequate access to services for disadvantaged and vulnerable persons in Czechia. |
| SDG11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilience Facility supported an agreement on establishing car free spaces across Malta, promoting the regeneration of public spaces of village and town cores. |
| SDG12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported the introduction of climate action contracts to support the introduction of new, cleaner production technologies for energy-intensive industries in Germany. |
| SDG13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported the establishment of a Citizens’ climate council and introduction of a focal point for green budgeting in the Ministry of Finance in Austria. |
| SDG14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported investments In France, which are aimed at ecological restoration and supporting protected areas, including natural marine parks and other protected areas managed by the French Office for Biodiversity. |
| SDG15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported a reform which aims to improve the state of nature protection in protected areas in a manner that guarantees their contribution to landscape protection to enhance climate change resilience and adaptation in Slovakia. |
| SDG16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels | By the end of 2023, the Recovery and Resilient Facility supported the entry into force of a reform to improve the legal response to corruption in Greece. |