Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The European Commission has marked two years of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the main tool for recovery from the coronavirus crisis.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the body pointed out that the instrument is also used for strengthening the bloc’s green push and digitalization efforts.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen noted “our recovery plan NextGenerationEU has become even more than a vital response” to the coronavirus crisis and stressed, “we have already disbursed more than 140 billion euros.”
“With Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and global energy crisis, the fund has become a key element of our Green Deal Industrial Plan… it will support our member states on the road to net zero with the additional financial boost of REPowerEU,” she added.
Von der Leyen expressed a belief that the instrument will help to strengthen and modernize the EU, and concluded “speedy implementation should continue.”
European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis added that the RRF “continues to drive the transformation of member states’ economies… thanks to its forward-looking design, the RRF will also play a central role in revamping our energy systems and supporting net-zero industries in Europe.”
He stressed the importance of implementing RRF projects faster and more efficiently and noted that the EC “will be receptive to reasonable requests to update national plans as long as a high level of ambition is preserved.”
EC prepares sanctions
Dombrovskis stressed that the EC is preparing sanctions for bloc members that fail to reach some targets or milestones and concluded: “[they] will have six months to deliver fully on them.”
Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economy, pointed out “in the two years since the launch of the groundbreaking Recovery and Resilience Facility, the Commission has disbursed more than 144 billion euros to drive forward transformational investments and reforms.”
He noted that the instrument is driving the rollout of renewable energy infrastructure, digitalization of schools, creation of jobs, and economic development.
“Building on the valuable lessons learned over the past two years, the Commission is today setting out how it will continue to support member states in implementing their recovery and resilience plans… as part of this, we are publishing a transparent methodology for the partial suspension of payments, should this prove necessary,” he concluded.
