REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility
Date: 2022-03-01
Institutions: European Commission, Secretariat-General
Subjects: EU aid, EU financial instrument, EU financing arrangements, application of EU law, coronavirus disease, economic and social cohesion, economic recovery, epidemic, investment, structural adjustment

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 1.3.2022  COM(2022) 75 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility  
 
 
Contents 

1. 

Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3 

2.  Where do we stand with the implementation of the Facility?....................................... 5 

2.1. State of play on the process of implementation .................................................................. 5 

2.2.  State of play on the financing of the Facility .................................................................... 10 

3.  What do the Recovery and Resilience Plans actually contain? .................................. 12 

3.1. RRPs submitted - introductory overview .......................................................................... 12 

3.2. Contribution of the Facility to the green transition (pillar 1) ............................................ 14 

3.3. Contribution of the Facility to the digital transformation (pillar 2) .................................. 21 

3.4. Contribution of the Facility to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (pillar 3) ........... 28 

3.5. Contribution of the Facility to social and territorial cohesion (pillar 4) ........................... 32 

3.6. Contribution of the Facility to health, and economic, social and institutional resilience, 
with the aim of, inter alia, increasing crisis preparedness and crisis response capacity (pillar 5) 
 ........................................................................................................................................... 37 

3.7. Contribution of the Facility to policies for the next generation, children and the youth, 
such as education and skills (pillar 6) ...................................................................................... 45 

3.8.  Security self-assessments .................................................................................................. 47 

4. 

Implementation framework of the RRF ....................................................................... 49 

4.1. Contribution of the RRF to implementing reforms and other EU policies ....................... 49 

4.2. RRF contribution to multi-country projects ...................................................................... 54 

4.3.  Implementation of the RRF and the involvement of all relevant stakeholders ................. 57 

4.4.  Control system and protection of the financial interests of the Union.............................. 60 

4.5.  Complementarity with other EU funding.......................................................................... 62 

5.  Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 64 

1 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tables and Figures 

Table 1: State of play on RRF implementation .......................................................................... 6 

Figure 1: Key steps in RRP assessment and pre-financing ........................................................ 7 

Table 2: Processing of payment requests ................................................................................... 8 

Figure 2: Estimated timeline for completion of milestones and targets ................................... 12 

Figure 3: Share of RRF funds contributing to each policy pillar ............................................. 13 

Figure 4: Climate and additional environmental tag by Member State ................................... 14 

Figure 5: Breakdown of expenditure supporting the green transition (pillar 1) ....................... 15 

Figure 6: Contribution to digital objectives as share of RRP ................................................... 22 

Figure 7: Breakdown of expenditure supporting the digital transformation (pillar 2) ............. 23 

Figure 8: Breakdown of expenditure supporting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth 
(pillar 3) .................................................................................................................................... 29 

Figure 9: Breakdown of expenditure supporting social and territorial cohesion per policy area 
(pillar 4) .................................................................................................................................... 33 

Figure 10: Breakdown of expenditure supporting health and resilience per policy area (pillar 
5) 

 ........................................................................................................................................... 37 

Figure 11: Number of measures supporting health and resilience per policy area (pillar 5) ... 38 

Figure 12: Breakdown of expenditure supporting policies for the next generation per policy 
area (pillar 6) ............................................................................................................................ 45 

Figure 13: Number of reforms per pillar .................................................................................. 49 

Figure 14: Reforms/Investments per Member State ................................................................ 50 

Figure 15: Shares of CSRs covered by the RRPs, by policy areas (as defined in CeSaR) ...... 50 

Figure 16: NGEU GDP Impact (%) in QUEST simulations, EU countries ............................. 51 

Figure 17: NGEU GDP Impact (%) in QUEST simulations .................................................... 52 

Table 3: Green multi-country projects in the adopted RRPs ................................................... 55 

Table 4: Digital multi-country projects .................................................................................... 56 

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1.  Introduction 

The  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility,  established  by  Regulation  (EU)  2021/241  on  19 
February 2021, is the centrepiece of “Next Generation EU”, the EU response to emerge 
stronger from the coronavirus pandemic. A year after, the objective of this report is to take 
stock of the implementation of this extraordinary agenda of reforms and investments. In one 
year, major steps have been accomplished and implementation is firmly underway.  

Following  months  of  intense  preparation  due  to  their  unprecedented  scale  and  scope, 
Member States started to submit their recovery and resilience plans in  April 2021. The 
Commission  conducted  the  assessment  phase  expediently  and  the  Council  adopted  the  first 
Council  implementing  decisions  in  July  2021.  So  far,  almost  all  Member  States  have 
submitted their recovery and resilience plans, 22 of which have been first positively assessed 
by the Commission and subsequently adopted by the Council. The Commission also launched 
the  discussions  with  Member  States  to  agree  on  operational  arrangements,  which  set  the 
framework  for  monitoring  the  plans’  implementation.  The  Commission  raised  funds  on  the 
capital  markets  and issued  its  first  green bonds,  disbursing EUR  66.6  billion  to  date, out  of 
which EUR 56.6 billion in pre-financing, supporting Member States and the Union at a time 
when the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect their economies. 

The Facility has entered in the implementation phase, progressing quickly according to 
the  timeline  of  reforms  and  investments  set  by  the  Member  States.  The  first  payment 
request  was  fully  processed  in  2021,  with  the  disbursement  of  EUR  10  billion  to  Spain  in 
December 2021, while more than 30 payment requests are expected to be submitted in 2022. 
The calendar of payments is in line with the expected implementation phase of the Facility. 
The  Commission  and  Member  States  worked  closely  together  to  achieve  this  result.  The 
progress in the implementation of the plans can be followed live on a platform, the ‘Recovery 
and Resilience Scoreboard’, set up by the Commission in December 2021. 

This report is the first of a series of yearly reports on the implementation of the Facility1. 
It  provides an overview  of the  current  state  of its implementation  and of the  plans adopted, 
and  details  the  contribution  of  the  Facility  to  the  climate  and  digital  targets,  as  required  by 
Article  31  of  the  Regulation.  At  this  juncture,  as  the  Facility  is  still  in  its  early  stage  of 
implementation,  this  report  describes  the  Facility’s  expected  contribution  to  the  six  pillars 
according  to  the  measures  foreseen  in  the  plans,  which  will  be  gradually  implemented  over 
the Facility’s lifetime. The report then considers the performance of the Facility, taking into 
account the commitment to investments and reforms embedded in this unique instrument, and 
discusses  the  involvement  of  all  relevant  stakeholders.  It  also  describes  the  mechanisms  in 
place  for  the  protection  of  the  Union’s  financial  interests  and  the  articulation  between  the 
Facility and other sources of EU funds to avoid double-funding. The information provided in 
this report is based on the content of the adopted plans, as assessed by the Commission, on the 
data reported by Member States until end-November 2021 as part of their bi-annual reporting 
obligation, and on developments in the implementation of the Facility until end-January 2022. 

1 As required under Article 31 of the RRF Regulation. 

3 

 
 
                                                           
This  report does  not  cover extensively the status  of implementation  of  individual plans, nor 
the common indicators, given the still early stage in the implementation of the Facility. The 
examples  given,  notably  the  boxes  in  section  3,  are  included  as  an  illustration  but  are  not 
meant to be exhaustive. 

4 

 
 
 
 
2.  Where do we stand with the implementation of the Facility? 

2.1. State of play on the process of implementation2 

Adoption of the recovery and resilience plans 

The majority of Member States submitted their recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) by 
summer 2021. To support Member States in the preparation of their plans, the Commission 
established  informal  contacts  with  Member  States  from  October  2020  and  published  a 
Guidance3 in January 2021 on the information to be provided in the plans. In order to access 
financial support under the Facility, Member States had to prepare RRPs setting out a national 
agenda  of  reforms  and  investments  to  be  implemented  by  31  August  2026.  The  Regulation 
establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility4 entered into force on 19 February 2021. So 
far, the Commission has officially received 26 RRPs (see Table 1 and Annex 1). 

The Commission assessed each plan expediently in a consistent and transparent manner, 
following  the  11  criteria  set  out  in  Article  19(3)  of  the  RRF  Regulation5.  During  the 
assessment process, the Commission was in close contact with the Member States to conduct 
a  comprehensive  assessment.  The  Commission  supported  Member  States  to  put  forward 
ambitious plans with clear and realistic milestones and targets to monitor their progress during 
the implementation.  

The Commission has concluded its positive assessment of 22 RRPs and tabled proposals 
for a Council Implementing Decision for  each of them, accompanied by a Staff Working 
Document analysing the content of the respective plan. The Council Implementing Decisions 
and Commission Staff Working Documents  can be found on the Commission website6. The 
Commission’s  assessment  is  ongoing  for  four  plans,  in  cooperation  with  the  respective 
Member States (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Sweden), as provided for in Article 19(1) of 
the RRF Regulation.  

Overall,  the  adoption  of  the  22  Council  Implementing  Decisions  followed  a  swift  and 
smooth  process.  Following  intense  discussions  between  the  Commission  and  the  Member 
States during the preparation phase of the plans, the Commission proceeded swiftly with its 
assessment. For most plans, the Commission adopted its positive assessment in less than the 2 
months  assessment  period  provided  for  in  Article  19(1)  of  the  Regulation  following  their 
official  submission  (see  Table  1).  The  Council  was  then  also  able  to  approve  the  positive 
assessment of most RRPs within less than a month (see Table 1). Following the adoption of 
the  plans,  the  Commission  concluded  a  financing  agreement  –  and  where  relevant,  a  loan 
agreement – with the Member State concerned, which define the rights and obligations of the 
Parties, including with regards to the protection of the financial interests of the Union and the 

2 For the purpose of this report, all data and figures are presented with a cut-off date of 28 February 2022. 
3 SWD(2021) 12 final 
4 Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of 12 February 2021. 
5 https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html. 
6 Recovery and Resilience Facility | European Commission (europa.eu). 

5 

 
 
                                                           
requirements for Member States’ control system, as well as the commitment of the available 
amount of the financial contribution. 

Table 1: State of play on RRF implementation 

BE  CY DE  DK EL  ES  FR  IT  LU  LT  LV  PT  SI  CZ  HR AT  IE  SK  MT RO FI  EE  PL  HU SE  BG NL 

26 plans submitted 
to the Commission 

22 plans approved 
by the Commission 

22 CID adopted by 
the Council 

21 pre-financing 
disbursed 
(EUR 56.6 bn) 

5 payment requests 
submitted to the 
Commission 

1 payment made by 
the Commission 

10 
bn 

Pre-financing 

*7 

The Commission proceeded with a pre-financing payment of up to 13% of the financial 
contribution and loan to 21 Member States which requested it, following the signature of 
the financing agreement, and loan agreement when relevant. In accordance with Article 13(1), 
the pre-financing payment  only concerns Member States  which RRPs were endorsed by the 
Council in 2021.  

In  total,  the  Commission  disbursed  EUR 56.6 billion  in  pre-financing.  Payments  of  the 
pre-financing were executed within 6 business days after the signing of the Financing (and/or 
Loan) Agreements (where relevant), well ahead of the 2-month period mentioned in the RRF 
Regulation  (see  Table  1).  Given  that  the  RRF  is  a  performance-based  instrument,  any 
subsequent  disbursement  is  conditional  on  fulfilling  the  relevant  milestones  and  targets 
underpinning the reforms and investments set by the time of the payment request. 

Operational arrangements 

As  required  under  the  RRF  Regulation,  the  Commission  subsequently  discussed,  with 
each  of  the  22  Member  States  concerned,  operational  arrangements  further  specifying 
the  modalities  for  monitoring  and  cooperation  and  covering  essential  aspects  of  the 
implementation.  The  operational  arrangements  provide  for  regular  exchanges  between  the 

7 No pre-financing requested. 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Commission and Member States, with  at least quarterly exchanges to take stock of progress 
on the implementation of the RRP, as well as the organisation of an annual event to discuss 
the  implementation  of  the  RRP  and  other  Union  programmes,  which  may  serve  as  an 
horizontal  platform  to  discuss  the  plans’  implementation  and  ensure  close  cooperation 
between  all  actors  involved.  The  operational  arrangements  also  clarify  the  verification 
mechanism for each milestone and target, and when necessary, introduce monitoring steps to 
follow  the  implementation  of  the  plan.  To  date,  eight  operational  arrangements  have  been 
concluded  (Spain,  France,  Slovakia,  Greece,  Italy,  Portugal,  Croatia,  Latvia;  see  Annex  1). 
The  signing  of  operational  arrangements  is  a  key  step,  as  it  is  required  before  the  Member 
State may submit its first payment request. 

Figure 1: Key steps in RRP assessment and pre-financing 

Disbursement process 

Once  a  Member  State  has  fulfilled  all  the  relevant  milestones  and  targets  to  unlock  a 
disbursement,  as  detailed  in  the  respective  Council  Implementing  Decision,  and  submits  a 
duly  justified  payment  request,  the  Commission  has  2  months  for  assessing  the  satisfactory 
fulfilment  of  the  relevant  milestones  and  targets  and  the  information  underpinning  their 
achievement  submitted  by  the  respective  Member  State.  To  conclude  this  assessment,  the 
Commission  provides  its  positive  preliminary  assessment  to  the  Economic  and  Financial 
Committee.  Within  four  weeks  the  Economic  and  Financial  Committee  should  provide  an 
opinion on these findings, after which the Commission implementing decision that authorises 
the  disbursement  is  adopted  in  accordance  with  the  examination  procedure  described  in  the 
Comitology  Regulation.  For  this  purpose,  a  RRF  Committee  was  established,  as  provided 
under  Article  35  of  the  RRF  Regulation,  to  discuss  the  draft  Commission  implementing 
decisions  concerning  the  payment  requests  of  the  Member  States8.  The  RRF  Committee  is 
composed of representatives of all Member States. At the end of the comitology procedure, 
the Commission  adopts a Commission implementing decision taking into account  the views 
expressed by the Members. 

8  Pursuant  to  Article  35  of  the  RRF  Regulation,  this  comitology  committee  is  set  up  within  the  meaning  of 
Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. 

7 

 
 
 
                                                           
Payment requests 

To date, the Commission has received five payment requests. The table below provides the 
state of play. 

Table 2: Processing of payment requests 

Payment 
request 
date 

Number 
of 
milestones  &  targets 
(M&T)   

Amount net of 
pre-financing9 

Status 

Spain 

11/11/21 

52 M&T 

EUR 10 bn 

  Commission’s  preliminary  positive 

assessment: 03/12/2021 

  EFC positive opinion: 21/12/2021 
  RRF  Committee  positive  opinion: 

22/12/2021 
  Commission’s 
27/12/2021 

disbursement: 

France 

26/11/21 

38 M&T 

EUR 7.4 bn 

  Commission’s  preliminary  positive 

assessment: 26/01/2022 

  EFC positive opinion: 11/02/2022 
  RRF  Committee  positive  opinion: 

Greece 

29/12/21 

15 M&T 

EUR 3.6 bn 

 

21/02/2022 
 Commission’s preliminary positive 
assessment: 28/02/2022 

Italy 

30/12/21 

51 M&T 

EUR 21 bn 

  Commission’s preliminary positive 

assessment: 28/02/2022 

Portugal 

25/01/22 

38 M&T 

EUR 1.16 bn  Commission’s assessment ongoing 

To  date,  the  Commission  has  disbursed  a  first  payment  to  Spain.  Spain  was  the  first 
Member State to submit a payment request on 11 November 2021, following the signing of 
the  operational  arrangements.  Spain’s  first  payment  request  concerns  the  satisfactory 
fulfilment of 52 milestones, mainly relating to reforms that were already implemented by the 
second quarter of 2021. Given the backward-looking nature of most milestones and given that 
Spain  had  shared  with  the  Commission  most  of  the  information  required  to  conduct  its 
assessment before the official submission of the payment request, the Commission was able to 
process the assessment of the payment request expeditiously10 and disbursed EUR 10 billion 
of the financial contribution (net of pre-financing) to Spain on 27 December 2021. 

Acknowledging the fulfilment of the milestones and targets underpinning the respective 
RRP measures, the first payment to Spain already illustrates the progress  made in the 
implementation of the RRF. The milestones included in the payment demonstrate significant 
steps in  the implementation  of Spain's recovery  and resilience plan,  and  of its broad reform 
agenda.  They  include  important  measures  like  the  Law  on  Climate  Change  and  Energy 

9 The amount net of pre-financing takes into account the pre-financing amounts disbursed, with a reduction made 
pro-rata.  
10 The Commission adopted a positive preliminary assessment on 3 December 2021. Following the swift positive 
opinion  of  the  Economic  and  Financial  Committee  (EFC)  on  21  December  and  of  the  RRF  Committee  on  22 
December, the Commission was able to execute the payment on 27 December 2021. 

8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Transition  (enshrining  climate  neutrality  by  2050),  the  reform  of  minimum  income  support, 
measures  to  support  the  digitalisation  of  SMEs  and  boost  digital  skills,  and  reforms 
reinforcing the capacity to carry out and follow up on spending reviews. This example shows 
how  the  Facility  is  already  having  tangible  impacts  on  the  ground,  supporting  the 
implementation of significant reforms. 

The framework for Member States reporting on the implementation of the RRPs  

The RRF has  currently entered in the implementation phase and Member States  have 
started to report on the implementation of their RRP. The Delegated Acts supplementing 
some of the Member States’ reporting requirements entered into force on 2 December 2021. 
The first delegated act (EU) 2021/210611 sets out common reporting indicators and the details 
of  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Scoreboard.  It  specifies  that  Member  States  will  report  by 
April and mid-October each year on the progress made in the achievement of their recovery 
and resilience plans. This bi-annual reporting consists in providing summary information on 
the achievement of the milestones and targets due by the quarter preceding the reporting, as 
well  as  the  status  of  those  due  in  the  four  quarters  following  the  reporting  period.  Member 
States are expected to provide information on whether the relevant milestones and targets are 
completed,  on  track  or  delayed.  Member  States  also  have  to  report  on  the  defined  common 
indicators  twice  a  year  (by  February  and  August).  The  first  reporting  will  take  place  in 
February  2022.  The  second  delegated  act  2021/210512  lays  down  the  methodology  for 
reporting  on  social  expenditure  in  Member  States’  recovery  and  resilience  plans.  This 
delegated  act  is  important  to  define  a  common  methodology  to  provide  information  on  the 
social expenditure, including on children and the youth, and on gender equality financed by 
the Facility. The methodology is based on the estimated expenditure provided in the approved 
recovery and resilience plans. Each reform and investment with a primary social dimension is 
associated to one of the nine specific social policy areas13 defined in the delegated act, each 
linked  to  four  broader  social  categories  (employment  and  skills,  education  and  childcare, 
health and long-term care or social policies). Each measure of a social nature that includes a 
focus on children and the youth, or on gender equality, is also specifically flagged.  

The Commission set up an IT system,  named  FENIX, for Member States to report the 
relevant  information  on  the  implementation  of  the  plans.  As  part  of  the  bi-annual 
reporting14, Member States reported the required information in FENIX for the first time by 

11 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2106 of 28 September 2021 on supplementing Regulation (EU) 
2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the  Council establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility by 
setting  out  the  common  indicators  and  the  detailed  elements  of  the  recovery  and  resilience  scoreboard,  OJ  L 
429/83. 
12 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2105 of 28 September 2021 on supplementing Regulation (EU) 
2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility by 
defining a methodology for reporting social expenditure, OJ L 429/79 
13 (i) Adult learning, (ii) Employment support and job creation, (iii) Modernisation of labour market institutions, 
(iv)  Early  childhood  education  and  care,  (v)  General,  vocational  and  higher  education,  (vi)  Healthcare,  (vii) 
Long-term care, (viii) Social housing and other social infrastructure, (ix) Social protection. 
14  Under  Article  27  of  Regulation  (EU)  2021/241  establishing  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility,  on  the 
Reporting by Member State in the context of the European Semester, Member States are required to report twice 
a year on the progress made in the achievement of their recovery and resilience plan.  

9 

 
 
                                                           
end-November 2021 (as this was the first bi-annual reporting exercise for Member States, the 
deadline  was  exceptionally  extended  by  a  month).  This  system  allows  Member  States  to 
update  the  information  regarding  the  achievement  of  milestones  and  targets  at  any  moment 
and  to  avoid  providing  several  times  similar  information  for  the  purpose  of  the  bi-annual 
reporting  or  the  submission  of  a  payment  request.  Reporting  under  the  RRF  is  now  fully 
operational. 

The  review  of  the  bi-annual  reporting  information  already  reveals  a  positive  picture 
regarding  the  implementation  of  the  milestones  and  targets.  This  reporting  exercise 
concerned all milestones and targets which were due from Q1 2020 to Q3 2022. Overall, of 
the backward-looking milestones and targets due by Q3 2021 (most recent reporting quarter), 
91% (266) were reported as “completed” and 9% (25) were reported as not completed. Of the 
forward-looking milestones and targets due between Q4 2021 and Q3 2022, 4.4% (41) were 
reported  as  delayed,  79.7%  (741)  as  “on  track”  and  14.9%  (139)  were  reported  as  already 
completed. The next bi-annual reporting exercise will take place in April 2022. Data related to 
the  bi-annual  reporting  is  self-reported  by  Member  States  and  does  not  prejudge  the 
assessment  of  the  Commission  in  the  context  of  payment  requests  on  the  satisfactory 
fulfilment of milestones and targets. 

The  Commission  set  up  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Scoreboard15,  a  public  online 
platform, as a performance reporting  tool of the Facility, which  transparently displays 
available  information  on  the  implementation  of  the  RRF.  Every  citizen  can  follow  the 
progress  on  the  implementation  of  the  RRF  and  the  detailed  progress  for  each  RRP  on  the 
Commission website in an easily accessible way. The Scoreboard displays the impact of the 
Facility  in  the  six  policy  pillars.  It  also  includes  data  on  the  common  indicators  and 
information reported on social expenditure. A first version of the Scoreboard was published 
on 15 December 2021, containing data on the 22 RRPs endorsed by the Council to that date. 

2.2. State of play on the financing of the Facility  

State of play on the Next Generation EU funding 

The Commission’s new role as an active issuer16 on the capital market is a key milestone 
for the implementation of the RRF. The Own Resources Decision entered into force on 1 
June 2021 enabling the Commission to start borrowing for the Next Generation EU (NGEU) 
temporary  recovery  instrument  (the  first  transaction  took  place  in  June  2021).  The 
Commission has been empowered to borrow up to EUR 806.9 billion in the period 2021-2026 
(current prices). This amount entails annual bond issuance of, on average, up to roughly EUR 
150 billion per year between mid-2021 and 2026, making the EU one of the largest issuers of 
bonds denominated in euro. Up to EUR 250 billion of the stated amount will be issued in the 
form of green bonds (see below). 

15 Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard (europa.eu). 
16 To pour into a Union spending programme. 

10 

 
 
 
                                                           
So far, the Commission has raised EUR 78.5 billion  in long-term funding through bonds 
and EUR 33 billion in short-term funding through 3-months and 6-months EU-Bills (of 
which  EUR  12  billion  have  already  matured).  Based  on  the  EU’s  high  credit  rating,  the 
Commission  is  able  to  borrow  on  advantageous  conditions  and  hence  minimise  the  cost  of 
recovery  fund  related  debt.  The  NGEU  funding  volumes  have  been  well  absorbed  and 
demand for the new issuances has been strong.  

The Commission has been able to fund all planned payments/incoming requests, and in 
a  very  expedient  manner.  To  date,  EUR  66.6  billion  have  been  disbursed  to  21  Member 
States under the RRF. Payments of the pre-financing were executed within few days after the 
signature  of  the  relevant  Financing  and/or  Loan  Agreements,  well  ahead  of  the  periods 
foreseen  in  the  RRF  Regulation.  The  first  payment  to  Spain  was  also  executed  swiftly  (3 
business days following the positive opinion of the RRF Committee).  

Green bond framework 

The  Commission  put  together  a  comprehensive  state-of-the-art  green  bond  framework 
for  its  issuances  under  Next  Generation  EU  and  plans  to  issue  up  to  30%  of  NGEU 
funding  as  green  bonds,  confirming  the  EU  commitment  to  sustainable  finance.  The 
framework is oriented along market standards and provides credible green bonds to investors. 
All  measures  included  in  the  recovery  and  resilience  plans  have  to  respect  the  do-no-
significant-harm  (DNSH)  principle  for  other  environmental  objectives.  To  achieve  such  a 
result, the Member States agreed  in the financing and loan agreements signed as part of the 
RRF  implementation  to  undertake  regular  reporting  of  their  expenditures  on  investments 
contributing to climate change objectives. The Commission raised EUR 14.5 billion through 
its first ever green bond issuance that took place on 12 October 2021.  

11 

 
 
 
 
3.  What do the Recovery and Resilience Plans actually contain?  

3.1. RRPs submitted - introductory overview  

General overview 

To date, the 22 RRPs approved by the Council account for a total allocation of EUR 291 
billion in non-repayable financing and EUR 154 billion in loans. Six Member States have 
an adopted plan including a loan (Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia).  

These 22 RRPs include around one third of reforms and two thirds of investments, and a 
total of 5155 milestones and targets to be fulfilled by 2026. 

Figure 2: Estimated timeline for completion of milestones and targets

6.000

5.000

4.000

3.000

2.000

1.000

0

Contribution to the six pillars: methodological introduction 

Pursuant to Article 3 of the RRF Regulation, reforms and investments included in the 
RRPs should contribute to the six policy pillars17 defining the scope of the Facility, while 
taking into account the specific situation and challenges of the relevant Member State.  

The Commission developed a methodology to report on the contribution of each plan to 
the Facility’s six pillars, where each (sub-) measure was tagged under one primary and one 
secondary  policy  area  (according  to  a  list  of  policy  areas  established  by  the  Commission18) 
which  are  associated  to  one  of  the  six  pillars,  reflecting  that  a  reform  or  investment  can  be 
related to several pillars. To the extent possible, and as described below, the pillar reporting is 
consistent  with  other  tagging  exercises  (climate,  digital,  social  expenditure).  Since  each 

17 The six pillars are: (i) green transition, (ii) digital transformation, (iii) smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, 
including economic cohesion, jobs, productivity, competitiveness, research, development and innovation, and a 
well-functioning  internal  market  with  strong  small  and  medium  enterprises  (SMEs), (iv)  social  and  territorial 
cohesion, (v) health, and economic, social and institutional resilience with the aim of, inter alia, increasing crisis 
preparedness and crisis response capacity, and (vi) policies for the next generation, children and the youth, such 
as education and skills. 
18 For more  information, see the RRF Scoreboard available at:  https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-
and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html.  

12 

 
 
 
                                                           
measure thus contributes towards two of the six policy pillars, the total estimated contribution 
to all pillars displayed on Figure 2 amounts to 200% of the RRF funds allocated to Member 
States. 

Figure 3: Share of RRF funds contributing to each policy pillar 

60,0%

50,0%

40,0%

30,0%

20,0%

10,0%

0,0%

Green transition

Digital
transformation

Smart, sustainable
and inclusive growth

Social and territorial
cohesion

Health, and
economic, social and
institutional
resilience

Policies for the next
generation

Legend: The darker-coloured parts of the columns represent those measures which have been tagged and assigned to the pillar as primary 
policy area, while the lighter-coloured parts represent measures tagged as secondary policy area.  

Moreover, the Commission has adopted a methodology to report on social expenditure 
in  the  Delegated  Regulation  2021/2105  (see  section  1).  Reforms  and  investments  with  a 
social dimension have been associated to one of nine social policy areas, each linked to one of 
four  social  categories  (namely,  employment  and  skills,  education  and  childcare,  health  and 
long-term care, and social policies) as set out in the Annex to the Delegated Regulation. This 
is complemented by the flagging of measures with a focus on children and youth or on gender 
equality  in  the  endorsed  plans.  However,  in  order  to  maintain  consistency  across  all  policy 
areas  supported  by  RRPs  (beyond  the  social  ones),  this  report  presents  measures  and 
expenditures according to the pillar methodology. 

The  RRF  Regulation  also  required  each  Member  State  to  dedicate  at  least  37%  of  its 
recovery  and  resilience  plan’s  total  allocation  to  measures  contributing  to  climate 
objectives  and  at  least  20%  of  the  total  allocation  to  digital  objectives.  The  RRPs 
specified and justified to what extent each measure contributes fully (100%), partly (40%) or 
has no impact (0%) on the climate and/or digital objectives. The contributions to climate and 
digital objectives have been calculated using Annexes VI (climate tracking) and VII (digital 
tagging)  of  the  RRF  Regulation,  respectively,  which  provide  a  relevant  ‘intervention  field’ 
together with a coefficient for the calculation of support to climate or digital objectives (0%, 
40%  or  100%).  Each  measure  of  the  RRPs  has  been  tagged  in  line  with  these  intervention 

13 

 
 
 
fields. Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows calculating 
to what degree the plans contribute to the climate and digital targets.  

3.2. Contribution of the Facility to the green transition (pillar 1) 

Climate target 

About  40%  of  the  total  plans’  allocation  is  related  to  measures  supporting  climate 
objectives and a number of RRPs exceed by a substantial margin the 37% climate target 
set in the Regulation (see Figure 4). The total climate expenditure in the 22 adopted plans 
amounts to EUR 177.4 billion. In addition, the plans include EUR 16.3 billion  of additional 
environmental expenditure19, taking the total amount of expenditure that is tagged as making 
a contribution to either climate or environmental objectives to EUR 193.7 billion20 (or 43,5% 
of the total allocation), as calculated according to the climate tracking methodology.  

Figure 4: Climate and additional environmental tag by Member State 

70%

60%

6%

50%

40%

4%

13%

2%

3% 2% 0%

7%

0%

5%

1%

2% 9%

59%

40% 41% 42% 42%

41%

37% 40%

50%

46%

42%

30%

59%

50%

20%

10%

0%

4%

0%

7% 5% 0%

3% 0%

0%

2%

61%

54%

37% 38%

37%

38% 41% 42% 45%

AT BE HR CY CZ DE DK EE EL ES

FI

FR IE

IT

LT LU LV MT PT RO SI

SK

Climate %

Add env %

Target 37% (Climate)

Actual 39,9% (Climate)

Overall expenditure towards the green transition in all RRPs  

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.  Along  with  contributing  to 
deliver on the climate ambition, the measures supported by the RRF will also ensure progress 
towards other environmental objectives such as reducing air pollution, promoting the circular 
economy  or  restoring  and  protecting  biodiversity,  promoting  energy  efficiency  and  higher 
deployment  of  renewable  energy  sources.  According  to  the  pillar  reporting  methodology,  a 

19  This  includes  investments  which  have  a  40  or  100%  environmental  tracker  under  Annex  VI  of  the  RRF 
Regulation, and which are not already included in the climate contribution. 
20 This amount is lower than the overall expenditure allocated to the “Green transition” pillar because the latter 
includes  all  the  costs  associated  with  the  investment,  and  not  just  the  tagged  expenditure  (for  example,  an 
investment  that  has  a  40%  climate  coefficient,  would  typically  be  included  with  100%  of  its  costs  under  the 
green transition pillar). 

14 

 
 
 
                                                           
total of EUR 224.1 billion of expenditure is estimated to be allocated to the green transition 
pillar (equivalent to 50% of the total expenditure in the 22 plans). 

Through the lens of the six-pillar approach, the overall amount of expenditure under the 
green pillar can be broken down in 11 policy areas, as shown in Figure 5 below. Overall, 
the  measures  included  in  the  RRPs  address  a  wide  of  array  of  areas,  from  e.g.,  sustainable 
mobility,  energy  efficiency,  renewable  energy  and  networks,  to  biodiversity,  circular 
economy, green skills and jobs, and climate change adaptation. 

Figure 5: Breakdown of expenditure supporting the green transition (pillar 1) 

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Sustainable Mobility

Energy Efficiency

Renewable Energy And Networks

R&D&I In Green Activities (E.G. Climate Change Mitigation,
Circular Economy)

Climate Change Adaptation

Sustainable Use And Protection Of Water And Marine
Resources

Transition To A Circular Economy, Waste Prevention And
Recycling

The Protection And Restoration Of Biodiversity And
Ecosystems

Other Climate Change Mitigation (E.G.. Sustainable Industry)

Pollution Prevention And Control (Such As Air, Water, Noise
Pollution)

Green Skills And Jobs

This  chart  shows  a  breakdown  of  the  estimated  contribution  to  the  policy  pillar  according  to  a  list  of  policy  areas  established  by  the 
European Commission. The percentage relates to the overall expenditure tagged under each policy area as a share of the green transition 
pillar. 

Sustainable mobility 

Sustainable  mobility  accounts  for  32%  of  the  total  expenditures  under  the  green 
transition  pillar  (total  cost  of  EUR  71.3  billion).  Large  investments  are  made  to  upgrade 
and extend the railway infrastructure, in particular on the Trans-European network (TEN-T), 
and for the purchase of modern rail rolling stock. They constitute a crucial vector for a modal 
shift  towards  an  environment-friendly  mode  of  transport  and  support  both  passenger  and 
freight  transport.  A  more  limited  number  of  measures  in  favour  of  the  greening  of  the 
waterborne and aviation sectors are also present, with investments for the greening of ports, 
for instance the installation of on-shore power supply, and of airports, with the electrification 
of ground handling systems. 

Italy’s  RRP  includes  3,400km  of  the  European  Rail  Traffic  Management  System  (ERTMS) 
deployment. The deployment of ERTMS will allow for seamless cross-border rail freight and 
passenger operations. ERTMS investments contribute to both the green and digital transitions. 

Significant  investments  also  aim  at  improving  the  sustainability  of  road  transport, 
including  through  support  to  the  deployment  of  alternative  fuel  infrastructure  and 

15 

 
 
 
vehicles and to the development of green public transport. Some of these investments are 
centred on helping consumers purchase zero emission vehicles, through financial incentives to 
help with the high upfront costs of purchasing electric vehicles. 

Germany’s  recovery  and  resilience  plan  will  help  citizens  shift  to  clean  electric  vehicles  by 
giving financial support to buy 560,000 decarbonised vehicles. The measure will reduce the 
purchase  prices  of  electric  vehicles  and  stimulate  the  market.  It  is  complemented  by  other 
measures,  such  as  financing  the  installation  of  50,000  publicly  accessible  recharging  points 
and of 400,000 further recharging points in residential buildings. 

Transport  sector  reforms  are  an  important  part  of  most  RRPs.  They  tackle  the  overall 
regulatory  framework  and  include  strategies  to  support  sustainable  urban  mobility  and 
collective transport as  well as measures supporting the roll out  of charging infrastructure or 
the procurement of clean vehicles. The plans also include reforms introducing competition in 
port services and reform the maritime sector and inland waterways. 

Romania’s RRP includes key regulatory changes to incentivise zero-emission road transport, 
incentives  for  zero-emission  and  low-emission  vehicles,  scrapping  schemes  to  replace  the 
most  polluting  vehicles,  improvements  to  the  governance  and  efficiency  of  state-owned 
enterprises in transport sectors, road safety stricter rules and enforcement measures, incentives 
for sustainable urban transport.  It also includes significant investments for zero-emission and 
upgraded railways rolling stock, for the modernisation and renewal of railways infrastructure, 
in particular along the TEN-T corridors, for the improvement of the quality and efficiency of 
the  core  TEN-T  network,  road  safety 
road 
improvements,  and  sections  of  the  underground  transport  network  in  the  municipalities  of 
Bucharest and Cluj-Napoc.  

infrastructure  on  specific  sections  of 

Energy efficiency 

Energy efficiency accounts for 29% of the total expenditures under the green transition 
pillar (total cost of EUR 64.4 billion). The majority of investments in this area concern the 
energy efficiency of residential buildings (total cost of EUR 28.4 billion), typically targeting a 
reduction in primary energy demand of 30% or more. Some of these relevant investments also 
include  measures  aimed  at  addressing  energy  poverty,  by  targeting  vulnerable  groups  for 
whom  the  significant  upfront  costs  make  it  almost  impossible  to  invest  in  the  energy 
efficiency  of  their  homes.  Renovations  of  public  buildings  are  well  represented  across  the 
majority of plans (total cost of EUR 20.2 billion), such as in schools, sport halls and historical 
buildings.  Lastly,  there  are  also  investments  for  the  construction  of  new  highly  energy 
efficient  public  and  private  buildings.  Beyond  buildings,  energy  efficiency  investments  in 
other sectors will help the decarbonisation of production processes in SMEs, larger enterprises 
and district  heating systems, e.g., by promoting  the integration of    cleaner and more energy 
efficient    technologies  for  manufacturing  processes  and  centralised  heat  production  with  a 
total cost of EUR 6.5 billion. 

16 

 
 
 
 
 
Spain  will  support  more  than  half  a  million  energy  renovation  actions  in  residential 
buildings  by  2026.  These  energy  renovations  will  achieve  on  average  a  primary  energy 
demand  reduction  of  at  least  30%.  The  investments  are  complemented  by  a  coherent 
package of reforms,  including tax incentives and renovation offices (“one-stop-shops”) to 
facilitate renovations. 

The  RRP  of  Belgium  will  stimulate  energy  efficient  renovations  of  buildings  with  a  total 
support  of  over  EUR  1  billion.  The  wave  of  renovation  will  concern  more  than  200,000 
private  and  social  housing  units  and  will  cover  more  than  one  million  m²  of  public 
buildings. Belgium faces important renovations needs to meet climate objectives. Energy-
efficient renovations of private and social housing will also help addressing energy poverty.   

RRPs include several reforms to encourage building renovation in all sectors: private and 
public  buildings,  residential  and  companies.  The  reforms  aim  at  making  financial  support 
available  for  renovation  more  efficient  (e.g.,  one  stop  shop)  and  more  environmentally 
friendly.  In  particular,  they  include  conditions  for  replacing  outdated  heating  systems  and 
encourage their replacement by renewable energy or district heating. 

Renewable energy and networks 

Overall, total estimated expenditure in clean power – renewable energy and networks –
accounts for 12% of the total expenditures under the green transition pillar (total cost of 
EUR 26.7 billion)21. Approximately two thirds of the overall investment in this area will be 
spent  on  renewables  technologies,  with  the  remaining  amount  allocated  to  investments  in 
energy networks and infrastructure (such as  deployment of energy storage and smart  grids). 
The  measures  focus  on  the  construction  of  offshore  or  onshore  wind  energy  farms  (and 
associated infrastructure such as energy islands), photovoltaic panels, and the construction of 
industrial sites using renewable energy.  

Lithuania’s  plan  will  support  private  businesses,  farmers  and  renewable  energy 
communities  for  the  acquisition  and  installation  of  onshore  solar  and  wind  power  plants, 
together with storage installations. Biomass based renewable schemes are also foreseen, as 
well as biofuel and bio methane facilities. 

15 RRPs include measures dedicated, either partly or exclusively, to hydrogen, which is 
expected to play  an important role to reach climate neutrality in the long run. Against 
this background, Member States’ RRPs will contribute to scaling up investments in renewable 
and low-carbon hydrogen (including using electricity from the grid, which in parallel should 
be  decarbonised)  by  at  least  EUR  9.3  billion.  Many  investments  in  the  RRPs  address  the 
whole  hydrogen  value  chain  –  from  production  to  transport,  storage  and  finally  end-use  in 
hard-to-abate industrial sectors and transport. 

21 More detail on this policy area can be found in the “Clean Power” fiche published in the RRF Scoreboard. 

17 

 
 
                                                           
RRPs also include reforms of the policy framework supporting renewable energy, such 
as  the  adoption  of  new or  prolongation  of  existing  support  schemes  or  the  simplification  of 
administrative  procedures  such  as  permitting  or  spatial  planning  to  facilitate  deployment. 
Reforms included in the RRPs aim generally at creating a stable regulatory environment and 
appropriate synergies between public and private investment.  

RRPs  also  include  dedicated  reforms  to  streamline  the  efficient  operation  of  the 
electricity  markets  and  the  development  of  new  renewable  power  plants  to  reach  the 
targets set out in the national energy and climate plans (NECP). Reforms included in the 
RRPs will accelerate the development of new renewable power plants to reach the targets set 
out in the NECP, notably through the facilitation of the permitting of renewable projects and 
enhanced  financial  support  mechanisms.  RRPs  also  include  dedicated  reforms  to  streamline 
the efficient operation of the electricity markets, in particular to facilitate the development of 
a  more  flexible  energy  system.  This  is  essential  to  support the  expected  high  share  of 
renewable energy. Reforms of the electricity market legislation are included in several RRPs 
to enable, in particular, the deployment of networks, energy storage and demand response to 
increase  reliability  of  the  system.  Reforms  will  also  improve  market  competition  and  help 
creating a stable regulatory environment. Ultimately, these reforms will participate to a more 
reliable, self-sufficient energy market in Europe, capable of addressing the increasing energy 
demand.  

To support and facilitate the deployment of renewable hydrogen, Romania will amend the 
existing legislative and regulatory framework with a focus on the transport and energy (gas 
and electricity) sectors. The reform foresees the adoption of a National Hydrogen Strategy 
and  Action  Plan,  will  remove  any  legislative  and  administrative  obstacles  for  the 
development  of  the  renewable  hydrogen  technology  and  contribute  to  the  achievement  of 
the  future  national  and  European  targets  for  the  production,  storage,  transport  and  use  of 
renewable hydrogen by 2030. 

Biodiversity, circular economy, sustainable water and pollution prevention and control  

RRPs  include  measures  relevant  for  environmental  policies,  mainly  in  four  areas: 
biodiversity  and  ecosystems;  circular  economy,  waste  prevention  and  recycling;  water 
and marine resources; and pollution prevention and control. These four policies account 
for 13% of the total expenditures under the green transition pillar (total expenditure of EUR 
28.8 billion).  

On biodiversity, measures target the conservation of terrestrial and marine biodiversity, the 
restoration  of  ecosystems  and  green  infrastructure,  ecological  connectivity  based  on  nature-
based  solutions,  sustainable  forest  management  as  well  as  the  fight  against  invasive  alien 
species.  

18 

 
 
 
Ireland  will  for  example  support  the  restoration  of  peatlands,  a  measure  which  has  the 
potential to promote and encourage the return of flora and fauna in these areas. It is estimated 
in the Irish plan that over a 30-year timescale 3.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions should be 
avoided thanks to the implementation of the enhanced rehabilitation measures. 

On  circular  economy  and  waste  management,  RRPs  include  investments  related  to  both 
short-term actions and R&D activities. Examples include investments aiming to increase the 
circularity of specific sectors, such as plastics, construction or textiles, while R&D activities 
aim to develop longer-term solutions on the reduction of plastic waste and the promotion of 
bio  economy.  Many  investments  and  reforms  aim  to  improve  waste  management  through 
retrofitting  waste  sorting  and  waste  management  facilities,  dedicating  particular  attention  to 
the treatment of bio-waste. For instance, several Member States have committed to improve 
their national legislative framework to promote a more circular economy by taxing landfilling 
or incinerating waste and promoting the reuse of electric equipment or plastic food containers. 

Belgium  will  support  the  minimisation  of  radioactive  waste  generated  during  the 
decommissioning  of  the  Belgian  nuclear  power  plants  through  the  demonstration  of 
decontamination techniques.  

Italy  aims  to  adopt  a  National  Programme  for  Circular  Economy,  and  one  for  Waste 
Management.  In  order  to  support  and  incentivise  recycling  practices,  Italy  will  introduce  a 
new  digital  waste  traceability  system  and  include  a  revision  of  environmental  taxation  to 
make recycling cheaper compared to landfilling. The plan also introduces technical support to 
local authorities to help them with the procurement in the domain of waste management, such 
as the development of waste plans or the transparency of public procurement procedures.  

On the sustainable use and protection of water, a significant part of measures focuses on 
water  management,  also  by  including  metering  devices  for  water  abstraction,  thereby 
combining  both  climate  and  digital  objectives.  Other  types  of  water  management  include 
measures  to  target  the  supply  of  safe,  clean  and  abundant  drinking  water  as  well  as  the 
treatment  of  wastewater  collection.  Some  measures  have  also  related  to  the  enhancing 
irrigation efficiency. Pollution prevention and control measures relate to  the implementation 
of low emission zones or the reduction of pollution in ports.  

Climate change adaptation 

Climate change adaptation measures in green activities accounts for approximately 6% 
of the total expenditures under the green transition pillar (total estimated expenditure of 
EUR  12.5  billion).  Measures  in  the  plans  relate  mostly  to  mitigation  of  flood  risks,  forest 
management and prevention of fires.  

Cyprus,  being  a  particularly  vulnerable  country  to  the  impacts  of  climate  change,  foresees 
protective and preventative measures against floods and forest fires. It includes an action plan 
on  water  resource  management  with  adaptation  measures.  Anti-flood  and  water  collection 
measures  will  create  or  upgrade  existing  anti-flood  infrastructure.  Overall,  it  will  aim  to 
improve  water  use  and  to  enhance  the  safety  and  sustainable  operation  of  water 

19 

 
 
infrastructures.  There  are  also  measures  related  to  increasing  country’s  responsiveness  to 
forest  fires,  based  on  delivering  firefighting  vehicles  and  equipment,  with  the  ambition  of 
reducing  the  risk  and  expansion  of  forest  fires,  and  the  strengthening  protection  against  the 
risks faced by citizens, infrastructure and forests from these incidents. 

the 

Greece includes a specific measure to protect selected cultural heritage sites and monuments, 
through 
tailored 
infrastructures  for  the  prevention  of  specific  climate  risks  and  associated  dangers  related  to 
climate change. 

targeted  projects  and 

the  construction  of 

implementation  of 

Other climate-related investment (R&D&I, green skills and green jobs and decarbonisation 
of industry) 

Many RRPs include measures on R&D&I in green activities which make up 6% of the 
total expenditures under the green transition pillar (total estimated expenditure of EUR 
13.4  billion)  related  for  example  to  green  hydrogen  energy  production,  carbon-capture  and 
storage, circular economy, and the aerospace field with a focus on low and zero emissions.  

RRPs also include reforms related to green skills and green jobs (EUR 1.5 billion). They 
cover investments  contributing to  reskilling and  upskilling initiatives, as well as reforms  on 
developing and implementing new targeted active employment policy measures for the needs 
of  the  green  transition.  These  include  employment  support,  educational  policies  and  further 
active labour market policies. 

Croatia  aims  to  adopt  new  frameworks  to  boost  employment  linked  to  the  green  transition, 
through  grant  support  for  green  traineeships,  as  well  as  employment  and  self-employment 
subsidies for green jobs, and will establish skills vouchers for long-term unemployed and less 
employable people from vulnerable groups, to provide amongst others green skills. 

Spain aims to adopt an Action Plan against youth unemployment, which will introduce three 
innovative  programs  targeting  young  jobseekers,  including  work-based  training  in  public 
school  workshops,  a  first  professional  experience  in  public  administrations  and  professional 
opportunities for young researchers. 

RRPs  also  include  other  investments  aiming  at  mitigating  climate  change  (EUR  5.4 
billion), but not captured in the categories listed above, such as the introduction of emission 
taxes on the industry, the entry into force of broad national climate action plans, the design of 
regulatory frameworks to hydrogen and CO2 markets, and the promotion of organic farming.  

Do no significant harm principle (DNSH)  

The DNSH principle is a key design feature of the RRF Regulation that ensures that the 
RRF  results  in  ambitious  plans  contributing  to  the  green  transition  and  a  sustainable 
recovery,  whilst  avoiding  the  lock-in  of  unsustainable  assets  and  activities.  The  RRF 
Regulation provides that no measure included in a RRP should lead to significant harm to any 
of  the  six  environmental  objectives  within  the  meaning  of  Article  17  of  the  Taxonomy 
Regulation.  These  six  environmental  objectives  are:  climate  change  mitigation,  climate 

20 

 
 
change adaptation, sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, transition to 
a  circular  economy,  pollution  prevention  and  control,  and  protection  and  restoration  of 
biodiversity and ecosystems. 

For  each  measure,  the  Member  State  performed  and  presented  in  the  plan  a  detailed 
DNSH  self-assessment  based  on  DNSH  Technical  Guidance22  published  by  the 
Commission to ensure that measures under the plan do no significant harm to any of the six 
environmental objectives. The self-assessment served as a basis for the DNSH assessment of 
the  plans  by  the  Commission.  For  several  measures,  the  Commission carried  out  extensive 
discussions  with 
to  determine  and  assess  compliance  with 
the DNSH principle prior to the approval of the plans, and to identify the specific conditions 
required to ensure the respect of the DNSH principle. 

the  Member  States 

The  Council  Implementing  Decision  approving  the  national  RRPs  include  detailed 
milestones and targets to verify the implementation of the plan. Disbursements under the 
Facility will be tied to the satisfactory fulfilment of these implementation steps. The Council 
Implementing  Decisions  include  specific  DNSH  provisions  in  the  milestones  and  targets 
corresponding to several measures (e.g., measures in the areas of energy renovations; energy 
generation; water management; transport; support to decarbonisation; horizontal schemes and 
financial instruments). These provisions ensure that the Member States are required to provide 
the evidence to fulfil compliance with the DNSH conditions for a given milestone or target. 

3.3. Contribution of the Facility to the digital transformation (pillar 2) 

Digital target 

The RRF Regulation requires that at least 20% of the total allocation in each RRP shall 
support  digital  objectives.  The  reforms  and  investments  proposed  by  Member  States  have 
exceeded the 20% target; total digital expenditure in the adopted plans amounts to EUR 117 
billion,  about  26%  of  the  total  plan  allocation  as  calculated  according  to  the  digital  tagging 
methodology.23 

22 C(2021) 1054 final. 
23 The RRPs had to specify and justify to what extent each measure contributes fully (100%), partly (40%) or has 
no impact (0%) to digital objectives, using Annex VII of the RRF Regulation. Combining the coefficients with 
the cost estimates of each measure allows calculating to what degree the plans contribute to the digital target. 

21 

 
 
                                                           
Figure 6: Contribution to digital objectives as share of RRP 

53%

53%

27%

23% 22%

25%

23%

22%

28% 27%

25%

26%

21% 20%

21%

22%

21% 21% 21%

32%

32% 32%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

AT BE CY CZ DE DK EE EL ES

FI

FR HR IE

IT

LT LU LV MT PT RO SI

SK

Digital %

Target 20%

Actual 26%

Digital transformation 

The  RRPs  include  a  range  of  measures  supporting  the  Digital  Transformation  pillar, 
such  as  very  high  capacity  and  5G  network  deployment,  digital  skills  development  for  the 
population  and  the  workforce,  integration  of  digital  technologies  in  government  processes, 
support  to  the  digitalisation  of  SMEs  as  well  as  R&D  and  deployment  of  advanced 
technologies.  According  to  the  pillar  reporting  methodology,  a  total  of  almost  EUR  130 
billion  of  expenditure  is  allocated  to  the  digital  transformation  pillar  (29%  of  the  total 
expenditure  in  the  22  plans).  More  than  a  third  of  digital  expenditure  is  allocated  to  the 
digitalisation  of  public  services,  including  the  digitalisation  of  transport  (36%,  EUR  47 
billion),  followed  by  measures  supporting  the  digitalisation  of  businesses  (20%,  EUR  26 
billion) and human capital (20%, EUR 26 billion), see Figure 7 below. 

22 

 
 
 
 
Figure 7: Breakdown of expenditure supporting the digital transformation (pillar 2) 

0%

5%

10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

E-Government, Digital Public Services (Including Digitalisation
Of Transport) And Local Digital Ecosystems

Digitalisation Of Businesses

Human Capital In Digitalisation

Digital Capacities And Deployment Of Advanced Technologies

Connectivity

Digital-Related Measures In Research, Development And
Innovation

This  chart  shows  a  breakdown  of  the  estimated  contribution  to  the  policy  pillar  according  to  a  list  of  policy  areas  established  by  the 
European  Commission.  The  percentage  relates  to  the  overall  expenditure  tagged  under  each  policy  area  as  a  share  of  the  digital 
transformation pillar. 

E-government and digital public services  

Measures  supporting  the  digitalisation  of  public  services  and  e-government  represent 
more than a third of the digital expenditure financed by the Facility for the 22 adopted 
RRPs  (EUR  47  billion,  which  amounts  to  36%  of  the  digital  transformation  pillar).  These 
measures  seek  to  modernise  and  improve  public  administration  processes,  in  order  to  make 
them  more  user-friendly,  citizen-oriented  and  interoperable  and  to  boost  the  access  to  and 
uptake of digital public services by individuals and businesses. Many RRPs include reforms 
aimed  at  introducing  or  improving  e-government  solutions,  such  as  eID  deployment,  at 
ensuring the interoperability of digital public platforms, as well as improving data collection 
and management.  

Croatia’s plan includes an investment to enable citizens to easily use online public services 
on their smartphones by creating a digital mobile e-service platform. It promotes the use of 
electronic signatures in citizens’ interaction with the public administration and includes an 
investment for the deployment of Croatia’s digital identity card to enable users of e-IDs to 
sign documents on mobile platforms. Croatia’s RRP also includes a measure dedicated to 
setting  a  “one-stop-shop”  harmonising  and  centralising  the  helpdesk  system  of  all  public 
administrations’  online  services, 
to  allow  a  better  communication  with  public 
administrations, quicker access to information and possibilities to send feedback and assess 
the quality of interaction with civil servants. 

A  number  of  RRPs  include  investments  aimed  at  integrating  advanced  technologies 
(such as government cloud) in government processes, as well as strengthening the public 
sector’s  cybersecurity  capacity.  Governmental  clouds  are  expected  to  simplify  citizen 
interaction with public authorities by reducing information processing time, lowering the cost 
of government services and enhancing the security of sensitive data. Due consideration is also 

23 

 
 
 
given  in  a  number  of  plans  to  strengthening  the  state’s  cybersecurity  capacity,  given  that 
cyber-crimes have demonstrated their potential to block critical public services. 

Greece’s  plan  includes  a  component  dedicated  to  the  digital  transformation  of  public 
entities, which includes wide-ranging cybersecurity and data governance strategies as well 
as an extended use of advanced technologies, such as cloud computing and big data. 

Malta’s  RRP  includes  an  investment  to  further  digitalise  Malta’s  Merchant  Shipping 
Directorate  by  developing  a  number  of  IT  tools  and  systems  (such  as  the  document 
management  system,  including  the digitalisation of  15  000  physical  shipping  files,  the 
vessel management system, a digital maritime interface, seafarers’ management system and 
maritime analytics tool). The investment in digital services and a cloud-based infrastructure 
will  help  ensure  more  efficient  regulatory  practices  and  improve  the  internal  operations, 
customer  relations  and  administration  within  the  directorate,  in  a  sector  of  paramount 
importance to Malta’s economy. 

Many RRPs contain measures aimed at the digitalisation of national healthcare systems, 
including  extending  the  scope  of  telemedicine  services,  the  consolidation  of  fragmented 
national  health  registries  and  ensuring  the  interoperability  and  security  of  digital  health 
platforms.  

Slovenia’s plan includes measures to integrate new digital services into healthcare, promote 
the use of information technology to communicate with patients and stakeholders, introduce 
quality  monitoring  based  on  real-time  data,  improve  capacity  and  patient-management 
planning,  and  improve  the  planning  of  hospital  facilities,  medical  services  and  material 
requirements. 

The digitalisation of public services concerns several policy areas and provides synergies 
with  the  five  other  pillars  supported  by  the  Facility.  For  instance,  supporting  the  green 
pillar,  some  investments  reflect  the  key  role  of  digitalisation  in  making  the  EU  transport 
systems  more  sustainable  and  resilient,  for  example  through  intelligent  transport  systems 
(ITS)  technologies,  urban  mobility  management  tools,  multimodal ticketing  and  multimodal 
passenger information systems and extension of the coverage of the European Rail Transport 
Management System.  

Finland’s  RRP  supports  the  Digirail  project  to  introduce  the  European  Rail  Traffic 
Management System on the entire national railway network by 2040, along with the 4G and 
5G-based Future Railway Mobile Communication System. 

Human capital in digitalisation 

RRPs include a wide range of measures to support the development of digital skills, for a 
total  estimated  cost  of  EUR  26  billion,  which  represent  20%  of  the  digital 
transformation pillar. Most plans include measures to increase the digital skill levels in the 
general population and in the workforce. Some plans also include measures to foster advanced 
digital  skills  and  to  train  ICT  professionals,  with  the  development  of  training  modules  in 

24 

 
 
 
 
advanced  digital  technologies  for  higher  education  and  vocational  training.  The  Covid-19 
pandemic  has  highlighted  the  need  for  digitalisation  of  education,  and  a  number  of  RRPs 
include relevant measures. 

Portugal’s  RRP  includes  an  investment,  “Digital  Academy”  which  will  offer  tailored 
training to the Portuguese workforce to increase the number of digitally skilled workers. A 
total  of  800  000  participants  will  undergo  a  personalised  diagnosis  of  digital  skills  needs 
and follow targeted digital skills training. 

Latvia’s RRP includes a measure aimed at significantly increasing the number of specialists 
with advanced digital skills. The measure consists of developing approximately 20 training 
modules  in  advanced  digital  skills  for  advanced  technologies  such  as  quantum,  high 
performance computing, and language technologies. The training modules will be included 
in  higher  education  programmes  (bachelor,  master,  and  doctoral)  as  well  as  educational 
programmes for professionals in enterprises. The investment will support 3000 participants 
in the developed modules. 

Ireland’  RRP  includes  a  measure  supporting  digital  transformation  of  Irish  education  and 
training  at  all  levels  (schools,  tertiary,  lifelong  learning),  mainstreaming  essential  digital 
skills across all settings, and addressing the risk of a digital divide. 

Digitalisation of businesses 

All  adopted  RRPs  include  measures  supporting  the  digitalisation  of  businesses,  for  a 
total  of  EUR  26  billion,  which  represent  20%  of  the  digital  transformation  pillar. 
Measures  in  this  area  include  key  reforms,  the  most  important  being  those  aimed  at 
simplifying the  administrative procedures  for businesses and at  creating  the foundation of  a 
digital  business  environment,  with  actions  in  the  area  of  digital  business  creation  and 
registration, trust and cybersecurity. These measures are expected to increase the level of trust 
on the adoption of digital technologies, with a positive effect both on their take up and on the 
intensity of their use. Reforms related to the digitisation of invoicing are also expected to have 
a positive impact on the digitalisation of businesses. 

Germany will implement the Online Access Act and the modernisation of registers, which 
are  expected  to  reduce  the  administrative  burden  for  companies  and  notably  for  SMEs. 
These  reforms  pave  way  for  the  introduction  and  effective  application  of  the  ‘once-only 
principle’ through digital means. 

Spain  will  adopt  regulatory  sandboxes  to  regulate  the  use  of  Artificial  Intelligence 
including the legislative actions on the use of data, privacy and ethical issues. 

A  number  of  plans  include  investments  to  support  the  integration  of  advanced  digital 
technologies in firms’ production processes (e.g., automation, artificial intelligence). This 
type of support can take several forms such as general support like coaching and consultancy 
services (including through European Digital Innovation Hubs), loans, grants or tax credits for 

25 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
the purchase of tangible (machinery/technical equipment) and intangible (software/trainings) 
assets  or  structural  measures  (including  regulatory  sandboxes24).  Moreover,  several  plans 
include domain-specific (for example for new processes in commercial activities) as well as 
the  vehicle 
industry-specific 
manufacturer/supplier sector). 

tourism  or 

investments 

example 

(for 

the 

for 

Austria’s plan includes a robust package of measures aiming at supporting and facilitating 
the digitalisation of companies. In particular, the plan contains targeted investments to help 
SMEs  adopt  digital  technologies,  which  has  proven  to  be  a  bottleneck  for  productivity 
growth. 

Denmark’s  plan  contains measures  to  foster the  digitalisation of SMEs by  prolonging the 
existing  “SME:  Digital”  scheme,  which  provides  subsidies  for  SMEs  to  digitalise  their 
business  and  expand  the  use  of  new  and  advanced  technology  as  well  as  e-commerce 
solutions. 

Italy  has  re-organised  and  overhauled  a  number  of  existing  measures  into  the  so-called 
‘Transition  4.0’  scheme,  which  provides  a  tax  credit  for  firms  investing  in  Industry  4.0 
tangible (digital and automated machinery) and intangible (software) goods, thereby aiming 
at fostering the modernisation and digitalisation of the production sector. 

Overall, both large and small firms benefit from the investments supporting the digitalisation 
of businesses. However, in addition, most of the plans include measures targeting specifically 
SMEs, as smaller firms face higher challenges in adopting digital technologies.  

Connectivity 

The  vast  majority  of  RRPs  includes  investments  in  connectivity,  which  account  for  an 
estimated cost of EUR 13 billion and represent 10% of the digital transformation pillar. 
This  covers  a  wide  range  of  actions  whose  objectives  contribute  to  the  deployment  of  very 
high-capacity  fixed  and  wireless  networks,  in  line  with  the  EU  objectives  for  the  Digital 
Decade  to  ensure  that  by  2025  all  European  households  will  have  access  to  high-speed 
internet coverage and that by 2030 they will have access to gigabit connectivity. Many RRPs 
include investments supporting the deployment of 5G or fixed ultra-fast or very-high capacity 
networks to reduce the digital divide.  

With ‘Broadband Austria 2030’,  Austria’s RRP includes  investments  in  Gigabit networks 
reaching half of Austrian households with gigabit-capable connections supplying download 
and  upload  speed  of  at  least  100Mbit/s  and  the  deployment  of  new  symmetrical  Gigabit 
connectivity, which will benefit in particular rural regions.  

Croatia’s  RRP  will  finance  the  development  of  broadband  infrastructure  in  areas  where 

24 A regulatory sandbox is a framework set up by a financial sector regulator to allow small-scale, live testing of 
innovations by private firms in a controlled environment under the regulator’s supervision. 

26 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
there is insufficient commercial interest, which will contribute to reducing the digital divide 
in Croatia – with a target to reach 700 000 inhabitants in those areas. 

Some RRPs also include investments for the installation of fiber optic infrastructures in 
buildings, and investments which may also have a cross-border dimension, such as those 
in  5G  corridors  and  submarine  fiber  cables.  In  addition,  several  RRPs  also  include 
accompanying  reforms  in  line  with  the  best  practices  for  timely  rolling  out  5G  and  fast 
broadband,  as  foreseen  in  the  ‘Connectivity  Toolbox’25.  Such  reforms  are  expected  to 
facilitate  investments  in  very  high-capacity  networks  by  private  operators,  in  particular  by 
removing  unnecessary  administrative  hurdles  to  investments  in  networks,  by  expediting 
permit  licensing  procedures  for  investments  in  the  rollout  of  wireless  and  fixed  VHCN 
networks,  and  by  reducing  the  deployment  cost  and  facilitating  network  deployment 
processes. 

Cyprus’ RRP will finance the installation of new submarine cables to connect Cyprus with 
the  Greek  system,  through  which  Cyprus  will  have  access  to  some  of  the  region’s  most 
important internet exchanges and will improve connectivity on the island. 

Italy’s RRP will finance five measures that are expected to contribute to the national ultra-
fast  and  5G  telecommunications  network  throughout  the  national  territory:  Italia  1  Giga, 
Italia  5G,  Connected  Schools,  Connected  Healthcare  facilities  and  Connected  smaller 
islands. 

As  regards  accompanying  reforms,  Austria’s  and  Greece’s  plans  are  in  line  with  the 
Connectivity toolbox and include for instance reforms to simplify procedures for broadband 
deployments, in particular by removing unnecessary administrative  hurdles, by expediting 
licensing procedures and by reducing deployment costs. 

Digital R&D, digital capacities and deployment of advanced technologies 

Most  RRPs  include  measures  supporting  research  and  development  in  digital 
technologies  and/or  investments  in  digital  capacities  and  the  deployment  of  advanced 
technologies, for a total of around EUR 18 billion, which represent about 14% of the total 
contribution  to  the digital  transition  pillar. These  measures mainly  consist  in  investments  in 
R&D&I  activities  in  areas  such  as  microelectronics,  cloud,  cybersecurity,  and  artificial 
intelligence,  as  well  as  infrastructures,  including  notably  supercomputers  and  quantum 
communication  networks.  These  investments  will  at  times  be  carried  out  in  the  context  of 
multi-country projects (see section below). Some RRPs also include reforms to complement 
these  investments,  with  the  aim  to  adjust  the  R&I  policy  tools  to  better  support  the 
development of these technological areas, or the legal and administrative framework (notably 

25 See the Commission’s Recommendation of 18 September 2020 on a common Union toolbox for reducing the 
cost of deploying very high capacity networks and ensuring timely and investment-friendly access to 5G radio 
spectrum, 
in 
the Union (C(2020) 6270 final). 

in  support  of  economic  recovery  from 

the  COVID-19  crisis 

to foster  connectivity 

27 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
for  what  concerns  data  governance  and  management)  to  enable  the  adoption  of  the 
corresponding technologies.  

Germany’s plan includes a large-scale cross-border European initiative to invest in the next 
generation of cloud services and infrastructure, to foster the industrial deployment of smart 
cloud  and  edge  solutions  that  are  highly  innovative,  highly  secure,  energy  efficient  and 
fully compliant with data protection. 

The Austrian RRP will finance research infrastructures and collaborations to, among others, 
expand the knowledge base for the (further) development of technological concepts as well 
as hardware and software for quantum computing, simulation and communication. 

Belgium, Spain and Slovenia will support the digitisation of the cultural and media sectors. 
Significant investments will equip cultural and media operators with technological tools for 
digitalisation  and  support  and  promote  major  cultural  institutions’  digital  transformation, 
thereby increasing the accessibility of cultural heritage. 

3.4. Contribution of the Facility to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (pillar 3)  

to 

improve 

innovation, 

to  reforms 

Measures  contributing  to  the  smart,  sustainable  and  inclusive  growth  pillar  concern 
more than a thousand measures of the 22 RRPs, for a total of around EUR 223 billion. 
These  measures  concern  very  diverse  areas,  from  support  to  SMEs  to  research  and 
the  business  environment  or 
development  and 
competitiveness. They also cover large investments to support smart, sustainable growth such 
as  Spain’s  support  to  digitalisation  and  innovation  (EUR  3  billion),  Italy’s  Transizione  4.0 
(EUR 10.8 billion), Portugal’s capitalisation of its national promotional bank Banco Nacional 
de  Fomento  (EUR  1.5  billion).  These  measures  also  cover  a  broad  spectrum  of  reforms 
notably in core areas of the Single Market, like regulated professions (Portugal, Croatia), the 
status  of  artists  and  cultural  workers  (Czech  Republic,  Greece,  Spain,  or  Romania), 
intellectual  property  (Italy,  Greece),  market  surveillance  (Italy),  insolvency  (Italy,  Spain, 
Portugal,  Greece,  Slovakia)  and  public  procurement  (Italy,  Greece,  Slovakia,  Slovenia, 
Romania and Latvia).  

28 

 
 
 
 
 
Figure 8: Breakdown of expenditure supporting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth 
(pillar 3) 

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Building Renovation And Construction

Support To Smes

Research, Development And Innovation

Competitiveness

Business Environment/ Entrepreneurship

Industrialisation And Reindustrialisation

Business Infrastructure

Cultural Sector

Regulatory Changes For Smart, Sustainable And Inclusive…

Support To Large Enterprises

Transnational Cooperation

This  chart  shows  a  breakdown  of  the  estimated  contribution  to  the  policy  pillar  according  to  a  list  of  policy  areas  established  by  the 
European Commission. The percentage relates to the overall expenditure tagged under each policy area as a share of the smart, sustainable 
and inclusive growth pillar. 

R&D&I 

All RRPs include measures related to research, development and innovation, for a total 
of  EUR  44  billion26.  The  amount  of  R&I  investments  represents  typically  between  4%  and 
13% of the RRF grants allocation of a Member State, with a few outliers below or above this 
range and an average of about 10%. 

Several RRPs include both investments and reforms that can have a real transformative 
impact  on  the  development  of  Member  States’  R&I  system,  shaping  it  in  the  years  to 
come.  For  example,  in  several  Eastern  and  Southern  Member  States,  which  combine  high 
RRF grants allocation and low R&D intensity, the investments included in the RRPs amount 
to  over  one  year  of  (pre-Covid)  public  investments  in  R&I.  Moreover,  in  some  of  those 
countries,  these  investments  are  linked  to  important  R&I  policy  reforms.  The  proposed 
reforms often plan to  reduce the fragmentation of the scientific research system through the 
consolidation  of  scientific  research  institutions  or  to  increase  the  attractiveness  of  research 
careers  in  public  institutions  through  changes  to  the  recruitment,  salary  and  career 
management policies.  

The  RRP  of  Slovakia  includes  a  reform  which  will  foster  the  concentration  of  excellent 
educational  and  research  capacities  by  bringing  together  universities  into  larger  units.  The 
reform should also allow increasing the cooperation between academic research entities  and 
business. 

26  This  includes  measures  addressing  research,  development  and  innovation  in  general,  as  well  as  measures 
addressing specifically research, development and innovation in relation to the green or digital transitions. 

29 

 
 
 
                                                           
The RRP of Croatia includes a reform agenda aimed at strengthening the public science base 
by introducing a new performance-based funding system  of universities and public research 
organisations and by enhancing the attractiveness of research careers and revising the career 
advancement framework of researchers. 

Reforms  also  aim  to  reduce  the  administrative  burden  related  to  the  access  to  public 
funding  for  R&I  activities  and  to  support  knowledge  and  technology  transfer  (from  public 
research  institutions  to  private  companies)  through  the  creation  of  appropriate  entities 
(offices,  agencies)  and  the  removal  of  barriers  to  academia-business  collaboration.  Last  but 
not  least,  reforms  included  in  the  RRPs  also  aim  to  improve  the  coordination  between  the 
different levels of governance of R&I and education policies, so as to respond to skills needs 
and enhance employability, especially for the young. 

A large number of RRPs contain thematic R&I investments which will allow mobilising 
R&I  capacities  in  view  of  accelerating  the  green  and  digital  transitions  and  enhancing 
resilience,  in  line  with  EU-level  agendas  (about  37%  and  22%  of  the  estimated  cost  of 
R&D&I-related  measures  has  indeed  been  tagged  as  contributing  to  green  and  digital 
objectives respectively). These thematic investments will mostly consist in providing financial 
support to R&I activities and infrastructures. Some Member States also included investments 
to support Horizon Europe Partnerships and the funding of excellent projects having received 
the ‘Seal of Excellence’ under Horizon Europe. 

Denmark’s RRP aims to provide the public and private sectors with incentives to boost R&D, 
particularly  in  innovative  green  technologies  through  the  set-up  of  four  public-private 
partnerships called “green partnerships” to develop solutions to four mission-based challenges 
of reducing emissions in the transport, agriculture, food and waste sectors. 

Support to enterprises (including SMEs, Access to finance and financial instruments)  

Most  RRPs  (19  out  of  22)  include  measures  which  provide  direct  support  to  SMEs, 
amounting  to  EUR  44  billion  which  represent  approximately  22%  of  the  total  estimated 
expenditure  for  pillar  3.27  However,  SMEs  will  also  benefit  from  a  larger  pool  of  measures 
that have a wider policy focus. For example, call for projects supporting R&I in the green and 
digital  areas,  financial  instruments  open  to  all  companies,  reforms  of  the  business 
environment  with  an  impact  on  SMEs  as  well  as  larger  firms,  or  broad  measures  like  the 
digitalisation  of  public  administration  services  which  will  have  a  positive  impact  on  the 
operations and costs of many SMEs but will not be exclusive to SMEs. Accounting for these 
additional measures,  all the RRPs include measures that are relevant  for  SMEs,  with  a total 

27  This  estimate  is  based  on  the  pillar  tagging  methodology  for  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Scoreboard  and 
correspond  to  the  measures  allocated  to  the  policy  areas  “Support  to  SMEs”  as  primary  or  secondary  policy 
areas.  

30 

 
 
                                                           
estimated  expenditure  of  about  EUR  109  billion  or  close  to  24%  of  the  total  estimated 
expenditure.28 

Overall,  the  scope  of  the  SME  measures  included  in  the  RRPs  covers  a  wide  range  of 
areas,  from 
improvement  of  the  business  environment  and  access  to  public 
procurement,  to  digitalisation  of  SMEs  and  improvement  of  their  environmental 
sustainability.  A  number  of  measures  also  aim  at  improving  SMEs’  growth  and  resilience 
through  improved  access  to  finance,  reskilling  and  upskilling  of  their  employees  or 
strengthening  their  research  and  development  capacities.  Besides  the  measures  which  target 
SMEs  explicitly  -  and  exclusively  in  some  cases  –  a  number  of  RRPs’  measures  are  also 
expected to indirectly benefit SMEs. This is the case for the large investments supported by 
the  RRP  in  sectors  with  high  share  of  SMEs,  like  construction  and  tourism  or  the  call  for 
projects for R&D activity to which innovative SMEs can participate. 

Croatia  will  establish  a  number  of  financial  instruments  to  provide  more  favourable 
financing conditions, with the objective of distributing 1,300 loans/interest rates subsidies 
to SMEs. Croatia will also invest in the management capacity of SMEs by providing them 
with business consultancy support. 

Latvia will support SMEs with actions on digital skills, reskilling and upskilling, as well as 
supporting innovative digital infrastructures such as Industry 4.0 solutions. 

France’s RRP will support the energy renovation of SMEs with a tax credit measure and a 
specific scheme to support artisans, small traders and self-employed people in their energy 
renovation works.  

Finland’s plan specifically targets SMEs by focusing on accelerating the growth of Finnish 
micro  and  small  enterprises,  as  well  as  boosting  their  internationalisation  capabilities  by 
providing business development grants.  

In  Spain’s  plan,  support  to  SMEs  is  significantly  focused  on  digitalisation  with  a  broad 
scheme  (EUR  3  billion)  to  provide  a  basic  and  more  advanced  digitisation  packages  to  a 
significant share of SMEs (Digital Toolkit). 

Greece’s plan  also  includes  several  investments  aimed at  promoting access  to  finance for 
Greek  firms  including  SMEs  through  an  ambitious  Loan  Facility  scheme.  These 
investments will be aligned with the five strategic pillars set for the Loan Facility, namely 
green  transition,  digitalisation,  extroversion,  economies  of  scale  through  mergers  and 
acquisitions, and innovation (R&D). 

28  These  figures  are  based  on  the  pillar  tagging  methodology  and  are  based  on  the  measures  allocated  to  the 
policy areas “Support to SMEs” as primary or secondary policy areas, further expanded taking into account also 
additional  measures,  included  under  other  policy  pillars  or  policy  areas  that  are  also  relevant  for  SMEs. 
Measures exclusively supporting SMEs have been identified on the basis of their description in the relevant CID 
annexes. 

31 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
In  the  deployment  of  their  RRPs,  Member  States  also  have  ample  room  for  manoeuvre  to 
foster  the  participation  of  SMEs  in  large-scale  projects  as  well  as  the  cooperation  between 
small and large enterprises or academia.  

The  strategic  project  for  the  electric  and  connected  vehicle  envisaged  in  the  recovery  and 
resilience  plan  of  Spain,  PERTE,  envisages  the  implementation  of  several  large,  integrated 
projects  covering the entire value chain  for the electric and connected vehicle, denominated 
“tractor projects”. It requires that at least 40 % of the participants in tractor projects be SMEs, 
and that at least 30 % of all aid will benefit SMEs. The measure is expected to contribute to 
maintaining and developing the participation of SMEs in the automotive industry value chain 
and to create new business opportunities for start-ups and SMEs.  

Business environment 

Most  RRPs  include  measures  to  improve  the  business  environment,  with  reforms  and 
investment representing EUR 17.2 billion and 8.5% of estimated expenditure in this area. In 
particular, measures aim to improve the easiness of doing business by reducing the red tape 
for  firms  and  entrepreneurs  and  with  a  liberalisation  of  business  regulation  and  to  reduce 
restrictions in highly regulated professions. Measures also aim to attract foreign investments 
and talents or to develop key sectors like culture and tourism. Some RRPs introduce packages 
of reforms to increase the competitiveness of public concession and public procurement.  

Greece’s RRP includes a reform under aimed at reducing the administrative and regulatory 
burden  on  businesses.  The  reform  comprises  a  series  of  interventions  to  simplify 
procedures such as getting credit, obtaining an electricity connection, registering property, 
and getting a construction permit. 

Spain is planning to adopt a new start-up law which will create favourable conditions for 
the creation and growth of innovative start-ups.  

Austria also includes a start-up package tailored to the needs of start-ups, innovative SMEs 
and social entrepreneurship.  

The majority of RRPs include measures in the area of business infrastructure, industrialisation 
and reindustrialisation, for a total worth EUR 26 billion in these policy areas. These measures 
notably concern the improvement of rail and road connection to ports, tor to industrial parks 
and  the  development  of  multimodal  transport  hubs;  the  rehabilitation  of  industrial  sites 
including  water  and  waste  management;  measures  to  support  the  circular  economy  in 
industrial  sites,  including  recycling  hubs;  logistic  hubs  to  support  the  agri-food  industry; 
broadband  and  5G  connectivity  for  industrial  sites  and  business  districts;  creation  of  data 
spaces for industrial application or for specific industrial sectors. 

3.5. Contribution of the Facility to social and territorial cohesion (pillar 4)  

Measures  supporting  social  and  territorial  cohesion  amount  to  EUR  193  billion  of 
estimated  expenditure.  Measures  aiming  at  territorial  cohesion  include  in  particular  large 

32 

 
 
 
 
 
infrastructure investments thus representing more than half of the expenditures contributing to 
pillar  4  (72%).  Social  cohesion  expenditures  in  pillar  4  are  shared  broadly  equally  between 
social  policies  (social  protection  and  social  housing)  and  measures  contributing  to 
employment  and  skills  (non-youth  employment  support,  modernisation  of  labour  market 
institutions and adult education). 

Figure 9: Breakdown of expenditure supporting social and territorial cohesion per policy 
area (pillar 4) 

0%

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Territorial Infrastructure And Services

Adult Learning, Including Continuous Vocational Education
And Training; Recognition And Validation Of Skills

Social Housing And Other Social Infrastructure

Social Protection, Including Social Services And Integration Of
Vulnerable Groups

Development Of Rural And Remote Areas (E.G. Islands)

Modernisation Of Labour Market Institutions, Including
Employment Services And Forecasting Of Skills And Labour
Inspectorates; Employment Protection And Organisation;…

(Non-Youth) Employment Support And Job Creation, Including
Hiring And Job Transition Incentives And Support For Self-
Employment

This  chart  shows  a  breakdown  of  the  estimated  contribution  to  the  policy  pillar  according  to  a  list  of  policy  areas  established  by  the 
European  Commission.  The  percentage  relates  to  the  overall  expenditure  tagged  under  each  policy  area  as  a  share  of  the  social  and 
territorial cohesion pillar. 

Territorial  infrastructure  and  services,  development  of  rural  and  remote  areas  (including 
islands)  

A  large  number  of  reforms  and  investments  aims  to  improve  territorial  infrastructure 
and  services  provided  at  local  level,  as  well  as  to  fill  the  gap  between  urbanised  and 
rural  areas.  These  include  measures  to  support  the  agricultural  sector,  to  improve 
infrastructures  that  can  boost  the  local  economy  and  national  competitiveness  (such  as 
railways and harbours), and the delivery of services which have a direct impact on the quality 
of  daily  life.  Many  of  the  measures  on  territorial  infrastructures  and  services  concern  the 
enhancement and innovation of mobility and transport, by improving air traffic management 
systems, investing in construction, upgrade and electrification of railways, modernising port 
and harbour infrastructures, and supporting sustainable urban mobility projects, such as high-
capacity public transport services and the construction of cycling lanes. 

RRPs  also  include  a  number  of  measures  to  improve  the  use  of  natural  resources  and 
preserve the environment at local level. This is the case of reforms on sewerage and waste 

33 

 
 
 
management  in  the  islands,  investments  to  expand  water  treatment  systems  in  big 
agglomerations  as  well  as  the  irrigation  networks  in  rural  areas,  measures  to  increase 
sustainability  of  agriculture,  livestock  farming  and  fisheries  and  to  support  the  creation  of 
consortia in functional rural areas. As for the territorial services, RRPs envisage measures to 
strengthen  the  capacity  of  municipalities  to  deliver  good  quality  services  through 
decentralisation reforms and investments to improve performance of public administration at 
local level. 

The plans of Belgium, Denmark and Italy include investments to encourage the construction 
of bike paths in state roads. This will support access to a more coherent bicycle road network 
for  citizens  and  the  tourism  sector  and  thereby  better  opportunities  to  choose  the  bicycle 
rather than other modes of transport. In addition, the measures will support a scheme targeting 
municipal bicycle construction projects.  

Cyprus  will  implement  anti-flood  and  water  collection  measures  targeting  Livadia,  Kladeri 
and the centre of Nicosia. More precisely, this investment will support the upgrade of flood 
channels  in  Livadia,  the  construction  of  a  rainwater  collection  network  of  4  600  meters  in 
length in Kladeri, and of a sewer system in Nicosia, including the reconstruction of streets and 
pavements and the expansion of the rainwater network. 

Latvia’s RRP foresees an administrative territorial reform to improve the quality of services 
by reducing the number of administrative units and increasing the efficiency and accessibility 
of service delivery. The measure includes the adoption of a new Municipality Law reviewing 
the functions and tasks of local governments. The new law shall ensure better governance at 
the municipal level,  a clearer separation  and division  of competences  between the decision-
making  and  the  executive  powers,  and  the  increase  of  the  participation  of  citizens  in  the 
decision-making of local communities. 

Social protection, inclusion, social housing and social infrastructure 

The  RRPs  cover  a  broad  range  of  reforms  and  investments  that  strengthen  Member 
States’  social  protection  systems.  These  measures  focus  on  the  effectiveness,  quality  and 
resilience of social protection systems, depending on country-specific needs as highlighted in 
the 2019/2020 CSRs. The majority of social protection investments under the RRF relate to 
upgrading,  expanding  or  improving  the  social  services  network  and  facilities  provided  by 
public  and  private  social  institutions.  They  also  include  specific  measures  addressing,  for 
instance, the inclusion of people with disabilities, increasing the adequacy and sustainability 
of  social  benefits,  and  improving  the  living  conditions  of  elderly  people  in  need  of  care.  A 
number of Member States also include important investments to increase the supply of social 
housing and social infrastructure to vulnerable groups. Some Member States also included in 
their RRPs steps for the reform of the minimum income and pension systems to increase their 
adequacy  and sustainability.  The measures in  favour of social protection and social housing 
account for around EUR 27 billion of estimated expenditure. 

Portugal: ‘Support  Programme for  Access  to  Housing’  is  an investment  to  safeguard decent 

34 

 
 
 
 
 
and adequate housing for families with the greatest needs and for the most vulnerable groups, 
with  the  objective  to  mostly  support  social  housing  accommodation  for  at  least  26 000 
households in need by 2026. The investments envisage the construction of new buildings, the 
renovation of existing dwellings, as well as, whenever necessary, the acquisition and leasing 
of additional buildings to provide social housing. 

Lithuania:  reform  to  increase  coverage  of  the  unemployment  insurance  scheme,  introducing 
additional  benefits  to  single  elderly  and  disabled  people,  as  well  as  improving  the  pension 
indexation mechanism to alleviate old-age poverty.  

Croatia:  the  RRP  includes  a  reform  and  an  investment  on  social  mentoring,  to  roll  out  an 
individualised mentoring service at social welfare centres targeted at individuals at risk or in a 
marginalised  position.  This  new  service  will  focus  on  the  integration  of  persons  with 
disabilities,  victims  of  violence,  homeless  people,  migrants,  Roma,  young  people,  persons 
serving prison sentences and members of other socially vulnerable groups. 

Spain:  reform  on  protecting  families  and  recognising  their  diversity,  which  provides  legal 
recognition of the different types of family structures and determine the benefits and services 
that they are entitled to depending on their characteristics and income levels. 

Employment support, modernisation of labour market institutions and adult education and 
training for target groups other than youth 

Almost all Member States included in their RRPs a range of reforms and investments to 
support  job  creation,  upskilling  and  the  modernisation  of  their  labour  market.  These 
measures respond to the country-specific recommendation linked to employment support and 
labour  market  in  the  last  two  years  addressed  to  almost  all  Member  States.  In  particular,  a 
majority  of  Member  States  were  asked  in  2020  to  ‘mitigate  the  employment  impact  of  the 
crisis and to strengthen jobs support’, while various more specific structural challenges were 
also identified. 

Employment  and  active  labour  market  policies  represent  a  key  aspect  of  almost  all 
RRPs, also in line with the Commission Recommendation on Effective Active Support to 
Employment  (EASE)  following  the  COVID-19  crisis.  The  plans  include  investments  and 
reforms to increasing the participation of women, young people, and vulnerable groups in the 
labour market, support job creation and the transition to new sectors and occupations, to boost 
employment  and  improve  the  performance,  functioning  and  resilience  of  labour  markets.  In 
total,  measures  supporting  employment  and  the  modernisation  of  labour  market  institutions 
account for around EUR 11.3 billion, which correspond to 6% of the allocation under pillar 4.  

Adult learning will be key to boost social and economic resilience. National plans include 
reforms  to  improve  lifelong  learning,  assessment  and  recognition  of  skills,  upskilling  and 
reskilling to strengthen career pathways, as well as investments to encourage trainings in the 
private sector (around EUR 16.4 billion). 

35 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Italy:  investment  to  support  women’s  participation  in  the  labour  market,  in  particular  by 
investing  in  childcare  facilities  and  supporting  women’s  entrepreneurship.  The  latter 
investment will provide support to female entrepreneurs, foster the creation and expansion of 
training  opportunities,  and 
innovative  business  projects,  provide  mentoring  and 
communication actions. 

France: the FNE-Training scheme will help companies to invest in training for employees in 
partial  employment,  benefitting  both  the  employee,  enhancing  his  employability,  and  the 
company, improving its competitiveness. 

Greece: horizontal upskilling programmes in digital skills, green skills and financial literacy 
for  over  half  a  million  beneficiaries  in  total  will  support  the  employability  of  the  Greek 
workforce in the green and digital transition. The investment will be preceded by a reform of 
the  life-long  learning  system  that  will  ensure  high  quality  and  labour  market  relevance  of 
trainings. 

Slovenia: the RRP includes a measure supporting the entry into the labour market of  young 
workers, with the provision of financial incentives for employers to hire young people up to 
25 years of age on open-ended contracts, conditional to mentoring and job-specific training, 
including focussing on digital skills. 

Ireland: activation support for long-term unemployment to provide a quality work experience 
to  at  least  10  000  persons  who  have  been  unemployed  for  six  months  or  more.  Temporary 
subsidised  work  placements  are  combined  with  mentoring,  access  to  training  and  support 
from public and private employment services to improve longer-term employability. 

the 

contracts 

available 

types  of  work 

Spain:  reform  of  employment  contracts,  amending  existing  regulations  on  the  use  of 
temporary contracts to promote the use of open-ended contracts. The reform will simplify and 
and 
reduce 
training/apprenticeship)  and  limit  the  conditions  under  which  temporary  contracts  can  be 
used.  It  will  provide  an  adequate  framework  for  apprentices  to  enter  the  labour  market, 
reinforce the use of open-ended contract for seasonal activities, strengthen controls to prevent 
irregular working time and fight against labour fraud, including by updating the sanctioning 
system. RRPs also include measures to strengthen and modernise public employment services 
and  provide  more  efficient  and  targeted  support  to  jobseekers,  such  as  via  digitalisation, 
process optimisation, staff training, and recruitment of temporary staff to face the effects of 
the crisis. 

(open-ended, 

temporary 

36 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3.6. Contribution  of  the  Facility  to  health,  and  economic,  social  and  institutional 
resilience,  with  the  aim  of,  inter  alia,  increasing  crisis  preparedness  and  crisis 
response capacity (pillar 5) 

The 22 adopted RRPs include measures supporting pillar 5 for a total amount of EUR 
78  billion.  While  funding  is  focused  on  strengthening  health  care  and  reforming  public 
administration,  the  number  of  measures  is  distributed  more  evenly  among  the  policy  areas. 
Pillar 5 can be broken down in 14 policy areas, as shown in Figure 10 below. Health care and 
public  administration  are  clearly  the  areas  that  are  benefitting  the  most,  with  health  care 
coming  first  as  regards  expenditure  and  public  administration  regarding  the  number  of 
measures.  Some  areas  like  fiscal  policy,  fraud  prevention  or  rule  of  law  are  allocated  only 
very  small  amounts  of  overall  expenditure,  but  they  instead  benefit  from  targeted  policy 
reforms.  

Figure 10: Breakdown of expenditure supporting health and resilience per policy area (pillar 
5) 

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%

Healthcare: Resilience, Sustainability, Adequacy, Availability,

Accessibility And Quality, Including Digitisation And…

Effectiveness Of Public Administration And National Systems,
Including Minimising Administrative Burden

Crisis Preparedness

Long-Term Care: Resilience, Sustainability, Adequacy,
Availability, Accessibility And Quality, Including…

Effectiveness Of Judicial Systems

Strategic Autonomy

Tax Measures, Including Measures Pertaining To Aggressive
Tax Planning

Crisis Reaction Capacity

Business And Public Service Continuity (In Crisis)

Fiscal Policy And Fiscal Governance

Fraud Prevention

Anti-Money Laundering Supervision

Financial Sector Reforms

Rule Of Law Reforms

This  chart  shows  a  breakdown  of  the  estimated  contribution  to  the  policy  pillar  according  to  a  list  of  policy  areas  established  by  the 
European  Commission.  The  percentage  relates  to  the  overall  expenditure  tagged  under  each  policy  area  as  a  share  of  the  health,  and 
economic, social and institutional resilience pillar. 

37 

 
 
 
Figure 11: Number of measures supporting health and resilience per policy area (pillar 5) 

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Effectiveness Of Public Administration And National Systems,
Including Minimising Administrative Burden

Healthcare: Resilience, Sustainability, Adequacy, Availability,
Accessibility And Quality, Including Digitisation And
Infrastructure

Fiscal Policy And Fiscal Governance

Tax Measures, Including Measures Pertaining To Aggressive Tax
Planning

Effectiveness Of Judicial Systems

Fraud Prevention

Crisis Preparedness

Long-Term Care: Resilience, Sustainability, Adequacy,
Availability, Accessibility And Quality, Including Digitisation
And Infrastructure

Strategic Autonomy

Crisis Reaction Capacity

Anti-Money Laundering Supervision

Rule Of Law Reforms

Financial Sector Reforms

Business And Public Service Continuity (In Crisis)

Health and long-term care 

All  RRPs  include  measures  related  to  health  care,  showing  Member  States’  strong 
commitment  towards  improving  health  systems  across  the  Union.  The  total  expenditure 
linked to these measures amounts to approximately EUR 37 billion, representing 49.15% of 
the pillar 5 total  allocation. RRPs include a wide array of health investments  in  their plans. 
First and foremost, approximately EUR 25 billion are dedicated to the construction of new or 
the upgrading of existing health infrastructures, including related medical equipment.  

Slovenia’s  plan  contains  large  investments  in  hospital  infrastructure  to  improve  the 
effective treatment of communicable diseases.  

Belgium’s  plan  includes  important  investments  in  nuclear  medicine  initiatives  aimed  at 
constructing a prototype facility for a sustainable production of medical radioisotopes, and 
targeted  at  developing  a  research  programme  for  the  next  generation  of  therapeutic 
radioisotopes in cancer treatment. 

38 

 
 
 
 
In  addition,  around  EUR  15  billion  in  investments  are  specifically  allocated  to 
improving primary care and prevention, in particular in rural and deprived areas.  

Greece’s plan foresees the implementation of a comprehensive system of primary, secondary 
and tertiary prevention to improve access to high-quality health services for all citizens. 

In  synergy  with  the  second  pillar,  many  RRPs  include  measures  aimed  at  the 
digitalisation of national healthcare systems, including extending the scope of telemedicine 
services,  the  consolidation  of  fragmented  national  health  registries  and  ensuring  the 
interoperability and security of digital health platforms. The total expenditure for investments 
contributing to the digital transition in healthcare amounts to EUR 12 billion across the plans. 

Romania’s  RRP  will  support  the  development  of  an  integrated  e-health  system,  connecting 
over 25 000 healthcare providers and telemedicine systems.  

Finland’s plan will support national and regional actors to develop digital services targeting 
citizens  (e.g.,  preventive  services,  symptom  assessments,  self-care  services,  digital  mental 
health services, etc.), professional systems (e.g., digital service models based on patient data 
analysis)  and  management  solutions  (e.g.,  advanced  knowledge  management  and  analytics 
solutions). 

To  complement  investments,  Member  States  also  plan  to  adopt  and  implement  an 
ambitious  reform  agenda.  Key  reforms  focus  on  (i)  re-organising  health  systems  to 
strengthen  their  capacity;  (ii)  improving  the  governance  of  health  systems  to  increase 
sustainability  of  healthcare  services,  and  (iii)  establishing  mechanisms  to  attract  and  retain 
health professionals in specific regions. This is particularly the case for general practitioners 
and  community  nurses,  as  important  shortfalls  are  reported  in  available  health  workforce  in 
some countries. For example, Spain’s plan includes a reform aimed at addressing shortages of 
nurses  and  doctors,  reduce  the  use  of  temporary  contracts,  improve  working  conditions  and 
enhance training and professional development in certain geographical areas.  

15  RRPs  include  measures  related  to  long-term  care  (LTC).  In  total,  43  measures  are 
included in the plans, for a total expenditure of approximately EUR 4.2 billion. Investments in 
social  care  homes,  nursing  homes  and  related  LTC  infrastructure  and  services  that  are 
included in the 15 plans aim to support national deinstitutionalisation strategies by promoting 
a  model  geared  towards  community  care  and  home  care  solutions.  As  a  case  in  point,  the 
French  includes  a  large  investment  for  the  renovation,  transformation  and  equipment  of  the 
French  medical-social  sector,  in  particular  Establishments  for  Dependent  Elderly  Persons 
(EHPAD) over the period 2021-2025. 

Effectiveness of public administration 

Over  a  third  of  the  measures  and  around  two  thirds  of  the  expenditure  linked  to  the 
effectiveness  of  public  administration  and  to  business  and  public  service  continuity 
relate  to  the  digital  transformation.  The  measures  furthering  the  public  administration´s 
digital transformation with the largest expenditure as a percentage of total RRP allocation can 

39 

 
 
be found in  Germany’s and Malta’s plans. Indeed, 10% of Germany’s total RRP allocation is 
devoted  to  a  reform  which  seeks  to  make  public  services  digitally  available  by  2022. 
Similarly,  Malta’s  plan  includes  an  investment  accounting  for  almost  6%  of  its  total  RRP 
allocation to enhance customer experience with online services. 

Across  RRPs,  measures  to  enhance  the  civil  service,  diminish  regulatory  and 
administrative  burdens  and  improve  public  procurement  contribute  to  enhancing  the 
effectiveness of public administration. 10 RRPs contain measures to improve the training, 
development  and  work  conditions  of  civil  servants  by  facilitating  flexible  working 
arrangements,  implementing  a  better  pay  system  in  the  public  service  or  modernising 
recruitment processes for example. In turn, 5 RRPs include public administration reforms to 
ease  or  reduce  the  regulatory  and  administrative  burden  for  businesses  by  simplifying 
procedures and requirements relating to business activity, simplifying regulatory requirements 
for professional services or implementing the “SME test”. Finally, 10 RRPs aim to improve 
public  procurement  by  developing  electronic  procurement  or  streamlining  the  awarding 
process. 

Romania’s  RRP  includes  measures  to  improve  the  quality  and  effectiveness  of  the  public 
administration, notably with measures to reinforce the effectiveness of the judicial system and 
fighting corruption.  

includes  reforms  and 

Latvia’s  RRP 
the  modernisation  of  public 
administration, centralising administrative support functions and investing in training staff in 
public administration.   

investments  for 

Croatia’s RRP lays out a reform for the continuous provision of public procurement training. 
This reform will contribute to the enhanced prevention of corruption and the improvement of 
the capacity and efficiency of the Croatian public administration. 

Effectiveness of judicial systems  

Measures  to  improve  the  effectiveness  of  the  judicial  systems  are  found  in  13  RRPs. 
More than half of these measures are investments worth EUR 3.75 billion. Notably, 75% of 
the total expenditure in this area is allocated to the Italian RRP which devotes a total of EUR 
2.268 billion for investment in human capital to strengthen the Judicial Office and overcome 
disparities between the different judicial offices. 

A third of these measures and almost half of these measures’ total expenditure are related to 
the  digital  transformation.  Investments  in  the  RRPs  of  Cyprus,  Greece,  Romania,  Slovakia 
and  Croatia  are  focused  on  improving  judicial  infrastructure.  Three  RRPs  (Cyprus,  Croatia 
and  Italy)  also  include  reforms  to  reduce  the  backlog  of  cases  pending  before  courts.  Some 
RRPs  (Cyprus,  Latvia,  Croatia,  and  Romania)  contain  measures  to  improve  the  quality  of 
judicial systems by training employees. 

40 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Romania’s  RRP  includes  an  investment  to  support  the  preparation  and  transition  of  the 
Romanian judicial system to a centralised electronic case management system. It also spells 
out  a reform  to  strengthen the independence of magistrates, and which will provide for the 
admission to the profession and career advancement of magistrates on meritocratic grounds, 
among other things. 

Malta’s  plan  devotes  numerous  reforms  to  combatting  weaknesses  with  respect  to  the 
independence  of  the  judiciary,  the  lack  of  a  separate  prosecution  service  from  the 
investigative branch and the challenges linked to  the effective detection and prosecution of 
corruption.  To  name  a  few  examples,  the  plan  contains  measures  to  reform  the  method  of 
appointment and dismissal of the judiciary, create a separate prosecution service and reform 
the Permanent Commission Against Corruption (PCAC). 

Slovakia’s  plan  contains  a  reform  which  entails  a  package  of  legislative  changes  aimed  at 
further  increasing  the  efficiency,  integrity  and  independence  of  the  justice  system  and 
fighting corruption and money laundering more effectively. In Slovakia’s plan in particular, 
four  investments  aim  to  expand,  upgrade,  build  or  procure  new  suitable  premises  for  key 
courts  in  the  new  judicial  map  introduced  under  the  RRP  and  modernise  the  courts’  IT 
equipment. 

Croatia’s  plan  contains  a  reform  to  establish  a  legal,  organisational  and  technological 
framework  that  will  contribute  to  reducing  backlogs  and  shortening  court  proceedings  and 
focus on the transparent and efficient administration of the justice system. This reform’s goal 
is to increase citizens’ trust in the justice system. 

Italy’s  plan  includes  various  measures  to  reduce  the  backlog  of  cases  for  Civil  Ordinary 
Courts, Administrative Regional Courts, the Civil Court of Appeal and the Council of State. 
These  measures  aim  to  make  the  judicial  system  more  efficient  by  reducing  the  length  of 
proceedings and bringing Italy closer to the EU average in terms of duration of proceedings. 

Cyprus’ plan includes an investment to train judges on various legal topics and judicial skills 
to address the low level of training and lifelong learning for judges. 

Latvia’s plan contains an investment to establish a single training centre for the development 
of the qualifications of judges, court staff, prosecutors, assistant prosecutors and specialised 
investigators. 

Fraud prevention /Anti-money laundering supervision 

17  RRPs  contain  measures  associated  with  the  fight  against  fraud  and  anti-money 
laundering and most of the measures included in the plans are reforms.  

Estonia’s plan includes an investment to establish the strategic analysis of money laundering 
and  terrorist  financing  in  Estonia.  This  measure  aims  to  strengthen  the  capacity  of  the 
Financial  Intelligence  Unit  to  identify  money  laundering  schemes  and  channels  at  an  early 
stage.  

41 

 
 
Slovakia’s plan includes an investment aimed at providing the tools and capacity for the fight 
against corruption and money laundering.  

Croatia’s plan also displays many anti-money laundering measures, among which a reform to 
enhance  cooperation  between  the  Anti-Money  Laundering  Office  and  the  supervisory 
authorities.  

Finland intends to implement a reform aiming at facilitating the collection and  exchange of 
information  between  the  competent  authorities  for  the  prevention  and  detection  of  money-
laundering,  including  through  the  automation  of  data  processing  and  analysis.  Bank  and 
payment  accounts  control  system  will  be  amended  to  increase  the  efficiency  and  the 
prevention detection and prosecution of money-laundering and terrorist financing.  

Greece’s plan contains a reform aiming at setting up a digital platform for the collection of 
statistical  data  held  by  judicial,  supervisory  and  law  enforcement  authorities  and  at 
improving the special registry for the record-keeping of beneficial ownership information.  

Another  reform  is  part  of  Ireland’s  plan  that  consists  in  the  publication  of  a  sectoral  anti-
money laundering risk assessment of Trust or Company Service Providers (TCSP) and in an 
increase of the number of inspections of TCSPs. In addition, a working group will review the 
Regulatory enforcement toolkit under the Criminal Justice Act 2010 (money laundering and 
terrorist  financing),  including  recommendation  on  expanding  the  toolkit  to  include 
administrative financial sanctions regime.  

Luxembourg  also  introduced  a  reform  in  its  plan  pursuing  two  main  objectives.  First,  to 
strengthen  the  framework  for  fighting  money  laundering  and  terrorist  financing  that  is 
applicable to professionals providing trust and company services and investment services by 
reinforcing the national provisions. Second, to better identify, assess and understand  money 
laundering  and  terrorist  financing.  In  addition,  the  Luxembourg  Business  Register,  as  the 
body administering the Register of Beneficial Owners and the Trade and Company Register, 
will  undergo  an  extensive  transformation  with  a  view  of  extending  its  sanctioning, 
controlling,  and  executive  powers,  and  facilitating  the  use  of  its  data  for  the  assessment  of 
AML risks. 

A  few  RRPs  also  include  measures  related  to  fraud  prevention,  for  example  to  fight 
cybercrime or tax avoidance.  

Croatia’s  plan  includes  an  investment  to  strengthen  the  capacity  of  the  police  to  tackle 
cybercrime.  

Spain’s  plan  spells  out  a  reform  for  the  adoption  of  an  anti-fraud  law,  which  aims  to 
strengthen  rules  against  tax  avoidance  practices  that  directly  affect  the  functioning  of  the 
single market. 

42 

 
 
 
 
 
Tax measures 

More than half of RRPs (14 out of 22) include reforms related to environmental taxes to 
address the green transition. Most of these measures cover specific tax reforms to be put in 
place  during  the  plan’s  lifetime.  Some  also  concern  preparatory  actions  (analyses, 
assessments, evaluations, reviews or studies regarding the possible introduction of new taxes). 
Taxes cover a variety of targeted sectors which can be listed as follows29: 24 measures relate 
to  energy taxes  (including 6  related to  preparatory  actions), 15 measures  are transport taxes 
(including 3 related to preparatory actions), 9 measures refer to pollution taxes30 (including 2 
related  to  preparatory  actions),  4  measures  refer  to  resource  taxes  (including  2  related  to 
preparatory  actions).  In  addition  to  the  green  taxation  measures,  several  RRPs  (9)  include 
taxation  measures  related  to  tax  policy  reforms,  measures  to  tackle  aggressive  tax  planning 
and measures to modernise tax administration.  

Portugal’s RRP also includes a measure to assess fiscal incentives to enhance the substitution 
of  non-renewable  natural  resources  with  bio-based  alternatives.  This  includes  assessing 
possible tax reforms to support the transition to a sustainable and circular bio economy (i.e. a 
resource  tax).  The  intention  is  to  support  producers  to  promote  production  processes  using 
biological resources compared to non-renewable alternatives.  

France’s plan also includes measures to accompany small and very small enterprises in the 
ecological transition and energy renovation, which includes a tax credit that can add up to 30 
% of the expense of eligible actions (insulation of roofs, walls, attics; solar water heaters or 
heat pumps). 

On  tax  policy  reforms,  Spain’s  plan,  for  example,  presents  reforms  of  the  tax  system  that 
seek to better meet expenditure and investment needs. In addition to redistributive effects, the 
aim  is  to  adapt  the  tax  system  to  the  challenges  arising  from  digitalisation  and  the  green 
transition. Additional actions are planned to prevent tax fraud, to increase the effectiveness of 
tax control and to incentivise taxpayers’ voluntary compliance with their tax obligations.  

Lithuania’s plan also  includes measures targeted  at  broadening  the tax base to  sources less 
detrimental  to  growth,  as  well  as  legal  and  technical  measures  to  improve  tax  compliance, 
and to improve the design of the tax and benefit system to help reduce income inequality and 
poverty.  

The overall objective of measures contained in Cyprus’ plan is to increase the effectiveness, 
efficiency  and  fairness  of  the  tax  system  by  combatting  tax  evasion  and  aggressive  tax 
planning by multinational enterprises. Among other, a reform will impose a withholding tax 
on  outbound  payments  of  interest,  dividends  and  royalty  payments,  firstly,  to  jurisdictions 

statistical 

29 This follows the EUROSTAT environmental taxes classification in EUROSTAT (2013) Environmental taxes, 
a 
at 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3859598/5936129/KS-GQ-13-005-EN.PDF). 
30 Taxation based on CO2 emissions is considered energy taxation. Taxation based on NOx or SOx emission is 
considered pollution taxation. 

environmental 

(available 

definition 

guide, 

taxes 

for 

of 

a 

43 

 
 
                                                           
included  in  Annex  I  of  the  Council  conclusions  on  the  revised  EU  list  of  non-cooperative 
jurisdictions  for  tax  purposes  and,  then  in  a  second  step,  to  low  corporate  jurisdictions. 
Cyprus will also introduce a further corporate tax residency test based on the incorporation of 
each  entity  and  digitise  the  tax  administration  to  increase  the  efficiency,  effectiveness  and 
fairness of the tax system and improve tax compliance.  

Ireland included in its plan a reform focused on preventative measures to limit opportunities 
for  aggressive  tax  planning  and  in  particular  double  non-taxation  by  means  of  outbound 
payments. The reform consists of an amendment to the legislation on capital allowances on 
intangible assets, the completion of a corporate tax residency reform and the entry into force 
of enhanced Controlled Foreign Company rules. In respect of outbound payments, the reform 
also includes the publication of economic analysis on the impact of recent reforms affecting 
payment flows; a public consultation on the possibility of introducing measures on outbound 
payments;  and  the  entry  into  force  of  legislation  to  prevent  double  no  taxation  applying  to 
outbound payments towards jurisdictions on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, no-
tax, and zero-tax jurisdictions.  

Several reforms are included in Malta’s plan. The objective of the first reform is to remove 
the  possibility  of  exempting  the  dividends  derived  from  bodies  or  persons  resident  in 
jurisdictions on the Code of Conduct Group list of non-cooperative jurisdictions from being 
taxed  in  Malta.  The  second  reform  aims  to  provide  guidance  to  the  government  for  the 
formulation  of  policy  to  mitigate  aggressive  tax  planning  risks  in  the  area  of  inbound  and 
outbound  dividend,  interest  and  royalty  payments.  The  third  reform  focuses  on  mitigating 
aggressive tax planning risks stemming from the citizenship-by-investment scheme.  

Greece’s plan includes tax policy reforms focusing on the codification of tax legislation, as 
well as on incentives to increase electronic transactions. Other reforms aim to transform the 
public  revenue  administration,  through  digitalising  processes,  and  introducing  legislative 
initiatives to combat smuggling and promote the acceleration of VAT refunds. 

Public finances 

A  number  of  RRPs  also  include  reforms  designed  to  improve  the  efficiency  of  their  public 
finances. Those reforms are addressing the challenges that some Member States are facing in 
terms  of  sustainability,  for  instance  by  introducing  the  better  use  of  spending  reviews, 
establishment of multi-year expenditure rules or by extending the prerogatives of independent 
fiscal bodies. Some Member States have also included reforms linked to green budgeting, to 
better integrate climate and environmental considerations in the budgetary process. 

As an example, France’s RRP includes a reform to establish a multi-annual expenditure rule 
for government expenditure and for extending the prerogatives of the High Council of Public 
Finances.  France’s  plan  also  includes  a  reform  linked  to  the  assessment  of  the  quality  of 
public  expenditure.  This  evaluation  of  public  spending  should  identify  the  most  efficient 
expenditures favouring growth, social inclusion and the ecological and digital transition. 

44 

 
 
 
Belgium  has  included  in  its  plan  measures  to  make  public  spending  more  efficient  and 
sustainable. The systematic integration of spending reviews in the budgetary planning cycles 
of  all  government  levels  will  contribute  to  improve  the  quality  and  efficiency  of  Belgium’s 
public spending, allowing to reprioritise it towards more growth and environmentally friendly 
expenditures. 

On  green  budgeting,  France  includes  a  measure  to  introduce  a  green  budget  methodology 
where each expenditure of the State budget is classified according to its impact on each of the 
six objectives defined in the Taxonomy Regulation. 

3.7. Contribution of the Facility to policies for the next generation, children and the 

youth, such as education and skills (pillar 6)  

RRPs include various measures to improve the resilience of Member States’ education 
systems and to support youth employment. Some RRPs also include targeted measures to 
compensate for the learning loss resulting from  the pandemic. The investments and reforms 
address all levels of education and training (i.e., pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary 
education  and  training)  with  country-specific  variations  linked  to  national  priorities  and 
challenges. 

In  total,  measures  related  to  pillar  6  account  for  EUR  49  billion,  representing 
approximately  11%  of  the  total  budget  of  the  22  RRPs.  Investments  and  reforms  cover 
early  childhood  education  and  care  (approximately  EUR  7  billion),  general  primary  and 
secondary  school  education,  initial  vocational  education  and  training,  and  higher  education 
(EUR 38.26 billion). 

Figure 12: Breakdown of expenditure supporting policies for the next generation per policy 
area (pillar 6) 

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

General, Vocational, And Higher Education: Accessibility,
Affordability, Quality And Inclusiveness, Including Digitisation
And Infrastructure

Early Childhood Education And Care: Accessibility,
Affordability, Quality And Inclusiveness, Including Digitisation
And Infrastructure

Youth Employment Support And Youth Job Creation, Including
Hiring And Job Transition Incentives And Support For Self-
Employment

This  chart  shows  a  breakdown  of  the  estimated  contribution  to  the  policy  pillar  according  to  a  list  of  policy  areas  established  by  the 
European Commission. The percentage relates to the overall  expenditure tagged under each policy area as a share of the policies for the 
next generation pillar. 

45 

 
 
 
 
RRPs  include  various  measures  aimed  at  increasing  participation  in  early  childhood 
education  and  care,  in  particular  among  disadvantaged  groups,  with  a  view  to  reduce 
inequalities. About half of the RRPs include measures to improve access to early childhood 
education and care by expanding its capacities, inclusiveness and quality. 

Many RRPs also include measures to support improvements in quality and inclusiveness 
in  general  school  education.  Some  measures  offer  individualised  support  to  disadvantaged 
schools  and  to  students,  including  mentoring,  also  to  overcome  learning  gaps  and  potential 
school  dropouts  caused  by  the  partial  school  closure.  Other  investments  aim  to  increase  the 
number of instruction hours and enable whole-day schooling. Several measures address topics 
such  as  implementing  a  curricular  reform,  reforming  teachers’  recruitment  mechanisms, 
fighting early school leaving, improving special needs education, supporting low performing 
students, improving external evaluation of schools or supporting desegregation. 

Half  of  the  RRPs  include  measures  to  support  the  transformation  of  higher  education 
with a broad range of measures, such as modernising study programmes, expanding study 
places,  launching  new  study  courses,  reviewing  schools’  funding  model,  developing  quality 
assurance  and  governance  mechanisms, 
tracking  systems,  and 
internationalising  higher  education.  A  number  of  RRPs  also  support  access  to  higher 
education.  

introducing  graduate 

A  majority  of  RRPs  include  investments  in  educational  infrastructure  to  modernise 
existing buildings, improve energy efficiency or build new facilities covering all levels of 
education. These investments will support improvements in quality, equity and efficiency in 
education,  as  well  as  the  green  transition.  Infrastructure  investments  in  early  childhood 
education  and  care  and  schools  are  planned  in  almost  all  Member  States,  and  for  higher 
education in nine Member States. Some RRPs also include the renovation or construction of 
student campuses at upper secondary or tertiary level. 

18 out of 22 RRPs include reforms or investments in digital education,  making up about 
30% of the total spending on pillar 6 (EUR 13.8 billion). Most RRPs include investments in 
digital  infrastructure  and  connectivity  of  schools,  often  with  a  focus  on  disadvantaged  and 
rural schools. These investments include transforming classrooms into flexible and connected 
learning environments and equipping learners and teachers with digital devices to reduce the 
digital divide. Digital competences of pupils will be improved through the adaptation of the 
school  curricula  and  developing  digital  resources  and  content.  About  half  of  the  Member 
States  include  teacher  training  on  digital  education  in  their  plans.  The  digital  transition  of 
higher  education will be supported through the development  of digital  infrastructure, digital 
teaching  resources,  adaptation  of  study  courses  and  training,  digital  training  for  academic 
staff,  and  the  development  of  online  courses  and  strengthening  of  blended  teaching.  These 
measures  will  improve  digital  competences  of  pupils,  improve  quality  and  excellence  in 
higher education and enhance the availability of digital skills in the labour market.  

Measures to support youth employment include subsidies for apprenticeships, investments 
to  customise  public  employment  service  to  young  people,  improve  youth  coaching  and 

46 

 
 
individual guidance towards employment and autonomy, and schemes to incentivise hiring of 
young people by the private sector around EUR 6 billion.  

Croatia  will  implement  a  comprehensive  reform  of  early  childhood  education  and  care 
(ECEC) with the aim to improve access to ECEC, with a guaranteed place from age 4 in an 
ECEC facility. The reform is complemented by investments in infrastructure to create 22 500 
new places in early childhood education and care.  

Slovakia  has  included  in  its  plan  a  curricular  reform  in  primary  and  lower  secondary 
education, which aims to create new learning content to improve pupils’ and teachers’ skills 
and to set up a favourable digital ecosystem. By the end of 2023, at least 60% of teachers in 
primary  and  lower  secondary  education  are  expected  to  receive  training.  Complementary 
investments  will  increase  the  percentage  of  schools  with  highly  equipped  and  connected 
classrooms from 30% to at least 90%.  

Latvia  intends  to  implement  a  structural  reform  to  change  the  governance,  funding,  and 
human resources system of higher education. The reform will ensure that funds are allocated 
according to results and a new unified career model for academic and scientific staff will be 
developed, in  line with  established best  practices, to  promote the  attraction and retention  of 
staff. At the same time, the RRP will support the consolidation of the network of universities 
and scientific institutes through grants.  

France has included in its plan a financial subsidy for employers of apprentices during their 
first  year of contract, adding up to maximum EUR 8 000 for over 18-year-olds, and EUR 5 
000  for  minors.  While  the  aid  is  open  to  all  companies,  companies  with  250  or  more 
employees  must  meet  one  of  the  following  conditions:  to  reach  5%  of  contracts  supporting 
professional insertion in 2021 (apprenticeship and professionalisation contract, VIE, CIFRE); 
or  at  least  3%  of  their  workforce  participating  in  dual  training  programmes  (apprenticeship 
and  professionalisation  contract)  in  2021,  as  long  as  there  has  been  at  least  a  10%  increase 
since 2020. For any  apprenticeship  contract  submitted by the Competence Operator (Opco), 
the support shall be paid monthly in advance of the remuneration by the Service and Payment 
Agency (ASP) and from the start of the contract.  

Cyprus  included  in  its  plan  a  strategy  aimed  to  improve  financial  literacy,  which  aims  at 
enhancing financial education within the general population and enhancing financial decision 
making. 

3.8. Security self-assessments 

As per the RRF Regulation, Member States were asked to include in their plans, where 
appropriate,  a  security  self-assessment  for  investments  in  digital  capacities  and 
connectivity. 14 Member States provided such a security self-assessment (out of the total 
of 22 for which recovery and resilience plans were submitted and approved so far): Croatia, 
Cyprus, Czechia, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania, 
in 
Slovenia,  and  Spain.  These 

self-assessments  addressed 

investments 

security 

47 

 
 
 
 
 
telecommunication  infrastructures,  in  particular  for  what  concerns  mobile  communications, 
building on the ‘EU toolbox for the cybersecurity of 5G networks’31, which sets out a number 
of  strategic,  technical  and  supporting  measures  to  ensure  a  secure  deployment  of  5G 
networks.  Other  types  of  investments,  notably  in  digital  infrastructures  and  services 
underpinning  the  modernisation  of  public  administration  and  public  services  (such  as 
governmental clouds), were also covered in the security self-assessments provided by several 
countries. 

A number of RRPs envisage follow-up actions during the implementation phase in order 
to ensure that security aspects are properly taken into account. Moreover, in a few cases, 
specific measures focused on security issues in relation to connectivity infrastructures or the 
digital transformation of public administration are included. 

Greece  provided  a  security  self-assessment  which  identifies  security  issues  relevant  to 
investments  in  5G  networks.  It  details  how  those  issues  will  be  addressed,  based  on  the 
common objective criteria included in the ‘EU toolbox for the cybersecurity of 5G networks’. 

The  plan  of  Lithuania  includes  a  security  self-assessment  for  investments  in  5G  networks, 
which  refers  to  and  describes  the  national  legislation  implementing  key  measures 
recommended  in  the  ‘EU  toolbox  for  the  cybersecurity  of  5G  networks’.  As  regards  the 
development and extension of a governmental cloud, security aspects feature prominently in 
the approach outlined for the corresponding measure in the plan. 

For  investments  in  connectivity  infrastructure,  development  environments  for  6G,  artificial 
intelligence and quantum calculations, as well as investments in cyber security exercises and 
trainings, the plan of Finland indicates that a risk assessment and a risk management plan are 
prepared for each project and that security risks will be addressed throughout the life cycle of 
projects. For connectivity investments, the plan describes the national legislative framework 
that takes into account the ‘EU toolbox for the cybersecurity of 5G networks’. For instance, 
devices  that  may  endanger  national  security  may  not  be  used  in  critical  parts  of  the 
communication  networks.  Security  requirements  are  also  planned  to  be  ensured  in  public 
procurement  procedures  and,  where  necessary,  personnel  and  company  security  clearance 
should be applied. 

31 See Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic 
and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Secure 5G deployment in the EU - Implementing the 
EU toolbox, COM(2020)50 of 29 January 2020. 

48 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
4.  Implementation framework of the RRF 

4.1. Contribution of the RRF to implementing reforms and other EU policies 

A commitment to significant reforms in every RRP  

The  adopted  RRPs  provide  a  wide  set  of  reforms  and  investments  which  effectively 
address all or a significant subset of challenges identified in the relevant country-specific 
recommendations addressed to Member States in the context of the European Semester 
in  2019  and  2020,  including  also  challenges  underpinning  fiscal  recommendations.  For  a 
positive assessment, each recovery and resilience plan needed to secure an ‘A’ rating, and as 
such contribute to addressing the key economic challenges with reforms and investments.  

Member States’ commitment to reforms is unique to the design of the RRF and reforms 
represent almost a third of all the measures included in the RRPs. In line with the RRF 
scope,  the  RRPs  include  reforms  and  investments  addressing  existing  policy  gaps  and 
challenges  under six policy  areas, namely  green  transition,  digital  transformation;  economic 
cohesion, productivity and competitiveness; social and territorial cohesion; health, economic, 
social  and  institutional  resilience;  policies  for  the  next  generation.  The  largest  number  of 
reforms  concern pillar 5 on health and resilience, followed by pillar 3 on smart,  sustainable 
and inclusive growth.  

Figure 13: Number of reforms per pillar 

Policies for the next generation, children and youth, including
education and skill

Health, and economic, social and institutional resilience,
including with a view of increasing crisis reaction capacity and
crisis preparedness

Social and territorial cohesion

Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth including economic
cohesion, jobs, productivity, competitiveness, research,
development and innovation, and a well-functioning internal…

Digital transformation

Green transition

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

49 

 
 
 
Figure 14: Reforms/Investments per Member State 

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

Investment

Reform

Reforms  proposed  in  the  RRPs  contribute  to  effectively  addressing  all  or  a  significant 
subset  of  challenges  identified  in  the  country  specific  recommendations  addressed  to 
Member  States  in  the  context  of  the  European  Semester  in  2019  and  2020,  as  required 
under the RRF Regulation (highlighted in Figure 15). Country-specific recommendations that 
are  not  systematically  covered  in  the  RRPs  relate  to  the  areas  of  public  finance,  taxation, 
competition in services, and housing market.  

Figure 15: Shares of CSRs covered by the RRPs, by policy areas (as defined in CeSaR) 

100%

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Macroeconomic outlook and impact of the RRF 

The RRF supports investments and reforms that are expected to generate a sizeable and 
persistent  positive  impact  on  overall  EU  GDP.  The  Commission  conducted  stylised 
QUEST  model  simulations  to  assess  the  potential  macroeconomic  impact  of  the  RRF  and 

50 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
NGEU  investment  (Pfeiffer  et  al.  2021).32  Implemented  with  a  strong  focus  on  high-quality 
projects  and high “additionality”, NGEU can increase  real  GDP in  the EU-27 by up to  1.3-
1.5% between 2021 and 2026.33  

The RRPs implementation triggers positive spillover effects. According to the simulation, 
all  Member  States  benefit  from  sizable  cross-border  spillover  effects  because  of  rising 
demand across the integrated EU economy: joint action yields higher growth effects than the 
sum of individual effects of Member States’ RRPs. This spillover channel accounts for around 
one  third  of  the  average  GDP  impact  and  is  significantly  larger  for  export-intensive 
economies receiving small grant allocations (see Figure 16). Furthermore, the analysis has not 
factored in reforms, which can substantially reinforce these growth effects in the medium and 
long run.  

Figure 16: NGEU GDP Impact (%) in QUEST simulations, EU countries 

3,5

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2,5

2

1,5

1

0,5

0

EL BG RO HR IT PT SK ES LV CY PL SI HU LT EE CZ E27 MT BE FR LU AT DE NL FI DK IE SE

Individual Plans

Spillover

Notes:  The  graph  shows  peak  effects  on  real  GDP  in  2026  expressed  in  per-cent  deviation  from  a  no-policy  change  baseline  for  a  linear 
NGEU spending profile (2021 to 2026) under the assumption of high productivity. The dark bars show simulation results for a standalone 
investment  stimulus  in  each  Member  State  (NGEU).  The  spillover  (light  bars)  is  defined  as  the  difference  between  the  coordinated 
simultaneous NGEU stimulus in all Member States and the standalone simulations of national plans. Source: Pfeiffer et al. (2021). 

The RRF supports the return of the EU onto a path of economic convergence. The RRF 
allocation is the largest in terms of GDP for the Member States most in need, contributing to 

32 See  Pfeiffer P., Varga J. and in ’t Veld J. (2021), “Quantifying Spillovers of NGEU investment”, European 
Economy Discussion Papers, No. 144 and Afman et al. (2021), “An overview of the economics of the Recovery 
and Resilience Facility”, Quarterly Report on the Euro Area (QREA), Vol. 20, No. 3 pp. 7-16. Both studies also 
highlight the sensitivity of the results to key assumptions. 
33 Depending on the spending profile, over six and four years, respectively. Additionality here refers to funds that 
do  not  substitute  for  recurring  national  expenditures  nor  for  other  EU  funds  (see  RRF  regulation  (final 
compromise text) recital 10a, art. 4a and art. 8). 

51 

 
 
 
                                                           
convergence in the EU. The RRF allocation key34 reflects the fact that those hit hardest by the 
pandemic  often  have  weaker  economic  structures  and  face  tighter  budgetary  constraints. 
When  grouping  Member  States  into  three  clusters  according  to  their  GDP  and  public 
indebtedness,  Figure  17  underlines  that  NGEU  is  likely  to  strongly  support  convergence 
within the EU economy. Based on the RRF’s allocation key, the Member States with below-
average GDP per  capita  levels  are estimated to  experience the largest  boost  to  GDP. At the 
end of the RRF’s implementation period, the increase in output amounts to around 1¾% for 
the  low  debt  group  and  2½%  for  the  high  debt  group  in  2026,  according  to  the  model 
simulations.  High-income  countries  with  above-average  GDP  per  capita  levels  are  likely  to 
experience smaller but sizeable GDP effects over the same period. Thus, while the RRF gives 
a substantial boost to the recovery across the EU, the allocation of financial support ensures 
that the funds will flow to where they are needed the most. 

Figure 17: NGEU GDP Impact (%) in QUEST simulations35 

2,5

2,0

1,5

1,0

0,5

0,0

2021A

2022A

2023A

2024A

2025A

2026A

2027A

2028A

2029A

2030A

Above average (high income)

Below average (high debt)

Below average (high debt)

E27

Although the pace of growth is projected to remain uneven across countries and sectors, the 
EU is set to return onto its path of economic convergence. Overall, growth is expected to be 
supported  by  an  improving  labour  market,  high  household  savings,  favourable  financing 
conditions – and the full deployment of the RRF. 

Social outlook and impact of the RRF  

34 The RRF financial contribution per Member State is calculated by taking into account, for each Member State, 
(i)  the  population,  (ii)  GDP per  capita,  (iii)  the  unemployment  rate,  and  (iv)  the  fall  in  real  GDP  in  2020  and 
2021. It will be updated in summer 2022 based on the most recent EUROSTAT data. 
35 The graph shows peak effects on real GDP expressed in per-cent deviation from a no-policy change baseline 
for a linear NGEU  spending  profile (2021 to 2026) under high productivity. The blocks include the  following 
MS:  Above-average GDP per capita: AT, BE, DE, DK, FR, FI, IE, LU, NL, SE; EU below average GDP per 
capita (high debt): CY, EL, ES, IT, PT; and EU below average GDP per capita (low debt): All EU-27 MS not 
included in the previous groups. Source: Aggregation based on Pfeiffer et al. (2021). 

52 

 
 
 
                                                           
The  Facility  is  supporting  some  measures  to  withstand  the  immediate  effect  of  the 
COVID-19  crisis,  as  well  as  medium-term  measures  that  contribute  to  furthering  the 
implementation  of  the  European  Pillar  of  Social  Rights.  The  RRPs  have  a  prominent 
employment  and  social  dimension,  in  line  with  the  national  challenges  identified  in  the 
country-specific  recommendations.  The  total  social  expenditure  provided  for  under  the 
national  plans  in  the  context  of  the  RRF  amounts  to  around  30%  of  the  total  planned  EU 
allocation36 (see section 3). While it is too early to see the positive effect of the RRF reflected 
in  the  employment  and  social  indicators,  the  implementation  of  the  significant  reforms  and 
investments in the social dimension planned in the RRF, in particular ambitious employment, 
skills  and  social  reforms  and  investments,  are  set,  together  with  cohesion  policy  funds,  to 
promote a fair, inclusive and sustainable recovery. They will also be a key contributor to the 
achievement  of  the  EU  2030  headline  targets  on  employment,  adult  education  and  poverty 
reduction that were welcomed at the Porto summit. 

The contribution of the Facility to resilience in the Union 

The  adopted  RRPs  are  set  to  have  a  positive  impact  on  the  resilience37  of  the  EU 
economy, by strengthening Member States’ capacities to swiftly recover and addressing 
their vulnerabilities. The updated (2021) resilience dashboard38, developed by the European 
Commission  as  a  follow-up  to  the  2020  Strategic  Foresight  Report39,  presents  indicators 
reflecting  Member  States’  resilience  capacities  and  vulnerabilities  along  four  dimensions: 
social and economic, green, digital, and geopolitical resilience. These areas dovetail with the 
relevant  policy  pillars  under  the  RRF:  green  and  digital  transition,  smart,  sustainable,  and 
inclusive growth, social and territorial cohesion, policies for next generation, and in particular 
health, economic, social, and institutional resilience.  

Contribution of the RRF to EU policies 

The  measures  included  in  the  RRPs  will  contribute  to  the  Union’s  ambitious  policy 
agenda to steer a sustainable, fair and inclusive recovery and to make the EU’s economy 
more resilient to future shocks, while transforming EU economies and societies in line with 
the ambition of the twin transitions. Launched at the start of the current Commission’s term of 
office,  the  four  complementary  dimensions  of  the  EU’s  competitive  sustainability’s  agenda 
(i.e., environmental sustainability, productivity, fairness and macroeconomic stability) feature 
prominently  among  the  objectives  of  the  RRF  and  have  guided  the  Member  States’  reform 
and investment agendas put forward in their RRPs.  

36  Social  expenditure  is  calculated  based  on  the  nine  social  policy  areas  grouped  in  four  social  categories 
(employment and skills, education and childcare, health and long-term care, and social policies) as set out in the 
Delegated Regulation 2021/2105. 
37 The RRF Regulation defines resilience in Art. 2(5) as the “ability to face economic, social, and environmental 
shocks or persistent structural changes in a fair, sustainable and inclusive way. 
38 Resilience Dashboards report and annex | European Commission (europa.eu). 
39 The 2020 Strategic Foresight Report (https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/strategic-planning/strategic-
foresight/2020-strategic-foresight-report_en) defines resilience as “the ability not only to withstand and cope 
with challenges but also to undergo transitions in a sustainable, fair and democratic manner.” 

53 

 
 
                                                           
On the green dimension, measures included in the RRPs  will directly contribute to the 
objective of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, an objective 
enshrined in the European Climate Law and supported by the ‘Fit for 55’ proposals40 adopted 
in July 2021 to make climate, energy, land use, transport and taxation policies fit for 55.  

On the digital dimension, measures included in the RRPs will also directly contribute to 
the  EU  objectives  of  a  digital  transformation  of  European  society  and  economy.  RRPs 
include  support  to  objectives  across  the  digital  policy  spectra:  supporting  digital  skills 
development  of  the  population  and  workforce,  digital  connectivity  in  underserved  areas, 
development and deployment of advanced technologies, as well as the digital transformation 
of  private  and  public  sectors.  In  addition,  many  Member  States  participate,  through  their 
RRPs,  in  multi-country  projects  that  will  support  the  development  of  EU  key  digital 
capabilities, including microelectronics, cloud and edge. Taken together, the RRF is expected 
to make an important contribution to the achievement of the Digital Decade targets41. On the 
social  dimension  and  fair  transition,  RRPs  will  also  directly  contribute  to  further 
implement the European Pillar of Social Rights as well as the new EU headline targets on 
jobs, skills and poverty reduction put forward at the Porto Social Summit of May 2021. It will 
also  contribute  to  the  recovery  of  labour  markets  in  line  with  the  Recommendation  on 
Effective Active Support to Employment (EASE) following the COVID-19 crisis. 

For now and for the coming years, the RRF will be at the core of the European Semester 
surveillance framework process for coordinating the economic and employment policies of 
the Member States and will continue to play this role in the recovery phase and in advancing 
on  the  twin  transitions.  As  highlighted  in  the  Annual  Sustainable  Growth  Survey  202242, 
taking into account the need to adapt, the European Semester will evolve in 2022 in line with 
the implementation of the RRF. The Commission will make every effort to ensure synergies 
and  streamlined  reporting  obligations  between  the  RRF  and  the  European  Semester. 
Constructive  dialogue  with  Member  States  will  be  at  the  core  of  the  relaunched  European 
Semester, integrated with the dialogue on the implementation of the RRPs. 

4.2. RRF contribution to multi-country projects 

The  RRF  supports  Member  States’  participation  to  cross-border  projects,  with  the 
planning of reforms and investments for the next five years taking place at the same time in a 
coordinated way. While each RRP reflects the specific situation of each Member State, some 
common challenges call for coordinated reforms and investments. Multi-country collaboration 
can enable the support to large projects that one single Member State could not develop on its 
own  and  allow  to  pool  resources,  increase  impact  and  achieve  economies  of  scale  and 
synergies. 

During the preparation of the plans, the Commission played an active role to encourage 
Member  States  to  participate  in  key  multi-country  projects,  which  would  enhance 

40 COM(2021) 550 final. 
41 Europe’s Digital Decade: digital targets for 2030 | European Commission (europa.eu) 
42 COM(2021) 740 final. 

54 

 
 
                                                           
coordination for critical investments in strategic sectors – and provide tangible benefits to the 
Single  Market.  For  example,  in  January  2021,  the  Commission  organised  a  workshop  on 
digital  multi-country  projects,  to  which  Member  State  participated  and  facilitated  later  on 
exchanges  with  Member  States  on  these  projects.  As  a  result,  numerous  RRPs  include 
measures participating in a number of multi-country projects, as detailed below. 

Green transition 

More than half of the RRPs include measures contributing to multi-country projects or 
cross border initiatives related to the green transition: 12 out of the 22 plans adopted. In 
total, more than 37 measures (or sub-measures) are relevant to green multi-country or cross-
border projects, for a total amount exceeding EUR 271 billion.   

  The multi-country projects with the highest take-up in RRPs are the eleven potential 
IPCEIs  on  hydrogen  (included  in  8  RRPs).  The  green  multi-country  projects  also 
include  one  electric  interconnector  (EUR  0.1  billion)  and  the  rail  interconnector 
between Verona and Brenner (EUR 0.9 billion).   

  The  cross-border  projects  will  foster  EU  interoperability  of  railway,  with  a 
significant cross-border dimension. They first relate the deployment of the European 
Rail  Traffic  Management  System  (ERTMS)  (3  RRPs,  5  projects,  EUR  3.1billion). 
ERTMS is about interoperability, digitisation and safety of train services and is key to 
shift  traffic  from  road  to  rail  for  railway  freight  on  cross-border  routes.  Investment 
needs in terms of rail signalling across the entire EU (ERTMS) are significant, given 
that only 11% of the TEN-T corridors are adequately equipped. In addition, the RRF 
will finance the deployment of TEN-T rail corridors (e.g., RailBaltica, Mediterranean 
(Spain-France), 
Sea-
Mediterranean  (Belgium-Luxembourg))  for  an  amount  exceeding  EUR  22.9  billion 
(ca. 6 RRPs, 23 projects).  

Scandinavian-Mediterranean 

section)  North 

(Italian 

Table 3: Green multi-country projects in the adopted RRPs 

T
A

E
B

G
B

Y
C

Z
C

E
D

K
D

E
E

L
E

S
E

I
F

R
F

R
H

U
H

E
I

T
I

T
L

U
L

V
L

T
M

L
N

L
P

T
P

O
R

E
S

I
S

K
S

●  ● 

● 

●  ●  ● 

● 

● 

● 

IPCEI Hydro-
gen 
Electric 
interconnector 
Rail 
interconnector 
ERTMS 

TEN-T 
corridors 

● 

l
a
t
o
T

8 

1 

1 

3 

6 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

● 

55 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
Digital transition 

Most  RRPs  include  measures  contributing  to  multi-country  projects  or  cross  border 
initiatives  related  to  the  digital  transition:  20  out  of  the  22  plans  adopted,  with  the 
exception of Denmark’s and Malta’s plans. In total, more than 60 measures (or sub-measures) 
are relevant to digital multi-country projects, for a total of about EUR 5 billion.   

The  two  potential  IPCEIs  on  microelectronics  (12 RRPs)  and  cloud  technologies 
(6 RRPs)  are  amongst  the  multi-country  projects  with  the  highest  take-up  in  RRPs. 
Several  RRPs  also  include  investments  in  multi-country  projects  related  to  the  European 
Digital  Innovation  Hubs  (8 RRPs),  5G  corridors  (7 RRPs)  and  quantum  communication 
(4 RRPs).  Table  4  summarises  the  uptake  of  digital  multi-country  projects  in  the  adopted 
RRPs. 

Table 4: Digital multi-country projects 

Micro-
electronics 
European 
Digital 
Innovation 
Hubs 
5G corridors 
Cloud 

Euro 
Quantum 
Communi-
cation Infra-
structures 
Euro High 
Perf. 
Computing 
Connected 
public 
administrati
on 
Genome of 
Europe 
Submarine 
cables 
Blockchain 
(EBSI) 
Security 
Operation 
Centers 
Skills + 
education 
Other 

T
A

E
B

G
B

Y
C

Z
C

E
D

K
D

E
E

L
E

S
E

I
F

R
F

R
H

U
H

E
I

T
I

T
L

U
L

V
L

T
M

L
N

L
P

T
P

O
R

E
S

I
S

K
S

l
a
t
o
T

●  ● 

  ●  ● 

  ●  ●  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ●  ●  12 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ●  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ●  8 

  ● 

  ●  ●  ● 

  ●  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

7 

6 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

4 

  ● 

  ● 

  ●  3 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

3 

3 

2 

2 

2 

0 

  ● 

  ● 

  ●  ●  ●  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ● 

  ●  9 

56 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4.3. Implementation of the RRF and the involvement of all relevant stakeholders 

Consultation of social partners, local, and regional authorities 

Member  States  have  taken  different  approaches  to  stakeholders’  consultation  in  the 
context  of  the  preparation  of  their  respective  RRP.  The  RRF  Regulation  includes  an 
obligation for Member States to provide, as part of their plan, a summary of the stakeholder 
consultations conducted during the preparation of the RRPs, including of social partners and 
local and regional authorities. It was up to each Member State to decide how to organise its 
consultation process in line with their national traditions and legal frameworks, and Member 
States  have  taken  different  approaches.  For  instance,  while  some  consulted  on  the  overall 
plan,  others  did  so  at  sectoral  or  regional  level.    During  the  pandemic,  social  partners 
supported  the  design  and  implementation  of  emergency  and  recovery  measures,  and  of  the 
recovery  and  resilience  plans  in  all  Member  States.  However,  their  consultation  and 
involvement differed significantly across Member  States and, overall, social partners  shared 
with the Commission  mixed feedback on the consultation process at national level, ranging 
from  regular  and  detailed  consultation  to  more  limited  consultation  processes.  Local  and 
regional  authorities  also  often  conveyed  that  they  consider  they  should  have  been  more 
involved in the preparation of the plans. 

The  Commission  regularly  underlines  the  importance  of  stakeholder  involvement  to 
Member  States,  both  for  the  preparation  and  implementation  of  the  plans.  For  the 
implementation of the plans, the Commission regularly encourages Member States to engage 
actively  with  social  partners,  civil  society  organisations  and  other  stakeholders  through 
dedicated regular meetings. These exchanges could  also  be an opportunity to  engage on the 
broader economic, employment, social and sustainability policy coordination agenda and will 
help to commonly identify challenges, improve policy solutions and contribute to a successful 
implementation  of  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility.  Beyond  the  structures  and 
procedures that Member States have in place at national level for involving local and regional 
authorities,  the  Commission  and  Member  States  will  hold  an  annual  event  with  the 
participation  of  those  responsible  for  implementing  the  recovery  and  resilience  plans.  This 
annual event will include all relevant stakeholders, including local and regional authorities. It 
will also serve as a horizontal platform to exchange views on the plan’s implementation and 
ensure close cooperation between all actors involved.  

Inter-institutional dialogue and democratic accountability 

The Commission is  cooperating closely with the European Parliament and the Council 
on  the  RRF  and  has  shown  a  strong  commitment  to  ensure  a  transparent  flow  of 
information.  During  the  phase  of  the  assessment  of  the  plans,  the  Commission  provided 
information  to  the  European  Parliament  orally  and  in  writing.  In  line  with  the  RRF 
Regulation,  the  Commission  shared  without  undue  delay  all  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plans 
officially  submitted  by  Member  States.  In  order  to  facilitate  the  readings,  the  Commission 
also provided English machine translations of all submitted plans. The Commission published 

57 

 
 
 
and  transmitted  immediately  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  each  proposal  for 
the  Council  implementing  decision  the  day  of  its  adoption,  together  with  a  Staff  Working 
Document outlining the Commission’s analysis of the  relevant recovery and resilience plan. 
Furthermore,  the  Commission  provided  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  with  an 
overview table of key information as well as other information related to the implementation 
of  the  Facility,  including  the  communication  strategies. All  relevant  documents  and 
information were shared simultaneously and on equal terms with the European Parliament and 
the Council, pursuant to Article 25 of the RRF Regulation. 

Looking  ahead  at  the  plan’s  implementation,  the  Commission  set  up  a  process  for 
sharing  the  overview  of  preliminary  findings  concerning  the  satisfactory  fulfilment  of 
the relevant milestones and targets. This already proved useful to share the findings related 
to the first payment request submitted by Spain end of 2021. The Commission will continue 
to  cooperate  closely  with  the  European  Parliament  and  ensure  a  transparent  flow  of 
information with a high level of availability and engagement throughout the implementation 
phase in the years ahead. 

The  Commission  held  regular  exchanges  with  the  European  Parliament  to  discuss 
horizontal  topics  concerning  the  RRF.  Four  ‘Recovery  and  Resilience  Dialogues’  took 
place  in  2021  to  exchange  views  on  the  RRF  as  foreseen  by  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Furthermore,  the  Commission  was  invited  to  meet  on  a  regular  basis  with  the  standing 
Working  Group  of  the  joint  ECON-BUDG  Committees  and  participated  in  15  meetings  in 
2021. These fora allowed to orally share aggregate information on the  RRPs on the basis of 
presentations  shared  with  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  equal  terms  and 
published  on  the  Commission  website43. This  engagement  will  continue  in  line  with  the 
Commission’s commitment to the democratic accountability of the Facility. 

The implementation of the RRF is also discussed in the strengthened inter-institutional 
dialogue  at  European  level,  with  both  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council.  A 
continuous exchange on social and economic developments in the European Union is ensured 
by the biannual Macroeconomic Dialogue at political and technical level between the Council, 
the Commission and representatives of the European social partners. This format has already 
been  used  to  discuss  the  implementation  of  the  Facility  and  it  will  provide  further 
opportunities to discuss this topic in the future.  

Communication on the RRF 

Under the RRF, recipients of financial support shall acknowledge the origin and ensure 
the  visibility  of  the  Union  funding44,  in  particular  when  promoting  the  actions  and  their 
results,  by  providing  coherent,  effective  and  proportionate  targeted  information  to  multiple 
audiences, including the media and the public. 

43 https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/recovery-coronavirus/recovery-and-resilience-
facility/information-provided-european-parliament-or-council-recovery-and-resilience-plans_en.  
44 including, where applicable, by displaying the emblem of the Union and an appropriate funding statement that 
reads ‘funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU’. 

58 

 
 
                                                           
Member  States  have  put  in  place  national  websites  and  published  their  recovery  and 
resilience  plans.  These  are  also  available  on  the  Commission’s  Recovery  and  Resilience 
Facility  website45.  Furthermore,  as  mentioned  in  section  1,  the  Commission  launched  a 
Scoreboard  that  features  sections  providing  an  overview  of  the  countries,  pillars,  timeline, 
milestones and targets, disbursements, common indicators and thematic analyses.46 

Member  States  have  also,  as  part  of  their  RRPs,  included  an  outline  of  their 
communication  strategies,  which  fulfil  the  minimum  visibility  and  communication 
requirements applicable to EU funds defined in the RRF Regulation as well as in Article 34 of 
the  Regulation  (EU)  2021/241.  Work  on  these  strategies  is  progressing  in  line  with  the 
advancements of the Member States’ implementation of their national plans. The Commission 
provides regular advice to Member States in this area. 

To  further  increase  the  visibility  of  the  RRF  and  work  hand-in-hand  with  Member 
States,  the  Commission  has  enlarged  the  INFORM  EU  network  to  include  RRF 
communicators47. This network brings together communicators from Member States and the 
Commission across EU funds. The participation of the RRF ensures synergies with Cohesion 
policy funds as well as with other EU funds on communicating the EU. Within this network, 
the Commission has established regular meetings with the RRF communication coordinators 
from  Member  States.  During  these  meetings,  the  Commission  provides  advice  to  Member 
States on the visibility and communication requirements under the RRF, such as developing 
the communication strategy, establishing a national RRF website, or ensuring the visibility of 
EU support by final beneficiaries. The network also provides a forum for exchanges of best 
practices and peer learning among Member States.  

The  European  Semester  Officers  posted  in  the  Commission  Representations  have  an 
important role in fostering cooperation on communication in each Member State. They 
have  established  contact  with  their  counterparts  in  the  national  administrations  dealing  with 
communication to ensure that communication efforts are undertaken jointly. This cooperation 
increases  the  visibility  of  the  RRF,  for  instance  through  joint  events  with  high  level 
representatives of Member States and the Commission that highlight the European dimension 
of  RRF-supported  projects.  Cooperation  is  also  being  established  with  the  European 
Parliament Liaison Offices to ensure that the Commission informs them of relevant activities 
and involves them where appropriate.  

45 Recovery and Resilience Facility | European Commission (europa.eu). 
46 Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard (europa.eu). 
47 INFORM EU network is an EU-wide network of communication officers responsible for communicating EU 
and Member State investments under shared management covering the following EU funds: Regional Policy: 
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Just Transition Fund (JTF) and Cohesion Fund (CF); Social 
Policy: European Social Fund (ESF+); Home Affairs: Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), Border 
Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI) and Internal Security Fund (ISF); Maritime Affairs: European 
Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF). In addition the network covers the RRF. 

59 

 
 
 
 
                                                           
Technical Support to Member States 

Some  Member  States  have  requested  technical  support  for  implementing  their  plans, 
under  the  Commission’s  Technical  Support  Instrument  (TSI)  which  provides  capacity 
building support to Member States. In 2021, more than 140 projects were contributing to the 
implementation  of  the  RRPs.  The    projects  cover  support  for  the  overall  implementation 
mechanisms of the RRPs (e.g. monitoring, reporting, project management, coordination, audit 
and  control  mechanisms,  the  application  of  the  do-no-significant-harm  (DNSH)  principle  or 
the  communication),  but  also  support  for  the  implementation  of  thematic  reforms  and 
investments (e.g. the execution of a national artificial intelligence strategy in Spain, measures 
to support spending reviews in Belgium, or the development of a National Hydrogen Strategy 
and Action Plan in Romania).  

In  2021,  Cyprus,  Greece,  Croatia,  and  Romania  embedded  in  their  RRPs  additional 
technical support for the implementation of reforms or investments linked to their RRPs 
under Article 7(2) of the RRF Regulation. Moreover, Croatia also transferred national funds 
to  the  Commission  under  Article  7  of  the  TSI  Regulation,  in  order  to  finance  additional 
technical  support  for  three  reform  projects  contained  in  its  RRP.  This  will  allow  for  8 
additional  TSI  projects  contributing  to  RRP  implementation  in  the  areas  of  healthcare, 
education, public procurement, energy, better regulation, administrative burden reduction and 
investment promotion.  

4.4. Control system and protection of the financial interests of the Union 

As  a  performance-based  programme,  payments  by  the  Commission  to  Member  States 
are  based  on  the  completion  of  milestones  and  targets  indicated  in  the  recovery  and 
resilience  plans.  Member  States  are  the  beneficiaries  of  the  RRF  funds,  which,  once 
disbursed,  enter  the  national  budget.  For  each  RRP,  the  Council  Implementing  Decision 
establishes  the  associated  set  of  milestones  and  targets  and  the  relevant  amount  for  each 
instalment.  When  a  payment  request  is  submitted  by  a  Member  State,  the  Commission 
assesses the satisfactory fulfilment of each milestone and target indicated as completed by the 
Member  State.  If  some  of  the  milestones  and  targets  are  not  fulfilled,  the  payment  can  be 
partially suspended. In 2021 the Commission established a monitoring and control framework 
for  the  RRF,  including  dedicated  audit  and  legal  units,  and  specific  control  and  audit 
strategies  designed  for  the  Facility.  The  Commission  further  established  thorough  internal 
procedures  for  the  assessment  of  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plans  and  subsequent  payment 
requests, ensuring effective and efficient ex-ante and ex-post controls. 

Each  Member  State  must  put  in  place  an  effective  and  efficient  control  system.  This 
obligation  is  foreseen  in  Article  22(1)  of  the  RRF  Regulation.  Each  Member  State  must 
detail  its  national  control  system  in  their  national  RRP  and  such  system  is  assessed  by  the 
Commission as either ‘adequate’ (A) or ‘insufficient’ (C)48. If the arrangements proposed by 

48 It assesses in particular whether the control system is based on robust processes and structures, identifies clear 
actors and their roles and responsibilities and ensures appropriate segregation of  functions. These bodies  must 
have  the  legal  empowerment  and  administrative  capacity  to  exercise  their  foreseen  roles  and  tasks  during  the 

60 

 
 
                                                           
 
the  Member  State  are  assessed  as  insufficient,  the  plan  cannot  be  approved.  While  the 
Member  States  are  primary  responsible  for  the  protection  of  the  financial  interest  of  the 
Union,  the  Commission  is  also  empowered  to  recover  the  funds  and/or  apply  financial 
corrections in cases of fraud, corruption and conflict of interest that have not been recovered 
by  the  Member  States  or  in  case  of  serious  breach  of  the  obligations  contained  in  the 
financing and loan agreements.  

After  their  assessment,  the  Commission  concluded  that  all  22  RRPs  adopted  in  2021 
have  an  adequate  control  system.  However,  the  Commission  also  identified  some 
deficiencies in 16 of them and required the Member States concerned to take additional 
remedial  measures  before  the  first  regular  payment  request.  The  Member  States 
concerned  agreed  to  add  the  necessary  measures  in  their  respective  RRPs49.  The 
corresponding milestones and targets are included in the Annex of the Council Implementing 
Decision  (CID)  and  they  must  be  fulfilled  prior  to  the  first  regular  payment  request  (thus 
excluding pre-financing payments). Therefore, the adequacy of the control systems is further 
ensured before any regular payment is made to a Member State. 

The  Commission  reviews  the  ‘management  declaration’50  and  ‘summary  of  audits’51 
provided  by  the  Member  States  with  each  payment  request  and  implements  ex-post 
audits  on  milestones  and  targets.  To  verify  whether  the  milestones  and  targets  have  been 
satisfactorily fulfilled, the evidence provided by the Member State (in line with the Council 
Implementing  Decision  and  the  Operational  Arrangements)  is  assessed  by  dedicated  multi-
DG country  teams.  In  addition,  a dedicated  audit  unit reviews the management  declarations 
and  summary  of  audits  provided  by  the  Member  States  with  each  payment  request.  Risk-
based  ex-post  audits  will  provide  additional  assurance  that  the  information  provided  by  the 
Member State is correct. The Commission is empowered to recover funds if it finds ex-post 
that a milestone or target was not satisfactorily fulfilled. 

To  date,  the  Commission  reviewed  or  is  in  the  process  of  reviewing  the  management 
declarations and summary of audits included in the five payment requests submitted by 
Spain,  France,  Greece,  Italy  and  Portugal.  Due  to  the  short  period  of  time  between  the 
approval  of  the  plans  and  the  submission  of  these  payment  requests,  the  scope  of  the  audit 

implementation  of  the  plan.  The  Commission  also  reviews  the  arrangements  described  in  the  plan  for  the 
collection  and  availability  of  data  on  final  recipients,  to  prevent,  detect  and  correct  corruption,  fraud  and 
conflicts  of  interest  when  using  the  funds.  The  Commission  also  looks  at  the  arrangements  described  in  the 
recovery and resilience plan to avoid double funding, to determine whether they are adequate. 
49 The identified deficiencies in the Member States’ control systems, included the absence of a repository system 
able to collect and store data as required by the RRF regulation, the absence of legal mandates for the various 
bodies  in  charge  of  implementing  and  auditing  the  funds,  the  insufficient  administrative  capacity  of  the 
implementing and audit bodies in charge of the implementation of the RRP, the lack of a clear audit strategy or 
anti-fraud  measures.  All  these  deficiencies  need  to  be  corrected  before  a  Member  State  can  receive  its  first 
regular payment, meaning the first payment under the RRF aside from the pre-financing payment. 
50 In the management declaration provided with the payment request, Member States must refer to the fact that 
the control systems in place give the necessary assurances that the funds were managed in accordance with all 
applicable rules - in particular rules on avoidance of conflict of interest, fraud prevention, corruption, and double 
funding in accordance with the principle of sound financial management. 
51 Summary of the audits conducted at national level during the implementation period. 

61 

 
 
                                                                                                                                                                                     
work  carried  out  by  national  authorities  was  in  general  limited.  The  Commission  requested 
additional  information  from  the  national  authorities  in  particular  to  assess  whether  data 
referred to in Article 22 of the Regulation were effectively collected and stored in the national 
system and identified a number of points to be followed up at the national level in 2022, as 
reflected in the Commission’s preliminary assessments of the relevant payment requests. 

While  the  primary  responsibility  for  protection  of  the  financial  interests  lies  with  the 
Member States, throughout the implementation of the plan, the Commission will carry 
out system audits on these Member States’ monitoring and control systems. In particular, 
the  Commission  will  audit  the  measures  Member  States  implement  to  prevent,  detect  and 
correct cases of fraud, corruption, conflict of interest and double funding. This will also cover 
systems  to  collect  and  store  data  concerning  beneficiaries,  contractors,  subcontractors,  and 
beneficial  owners.  The  Commission  can  further  implement  randomised  and  focused  audits, 
investigate possible fraud, corruption, and conflict of interest. The Commission is empowered 
to  recover  funds  or  launch  financial  corrections  if  fraud,  corruption  or  conflict  of  interests 
have  been  identified  and  not  corrected  by  the  Member  States  or  in  case  Member  States 
commit serious breaches of the obligations included in the financing and loan agreements. 

4.5. Complementarity with other EU funding 

For the preparation of the plans, the RRF regulation and the Commission’s guidance52 
to Member States provided principles to ensure  that there is  no double funding  of  the 
same costs by the RRF and other EU funds. In particular, RRPs detailed the processes and 
structures set up at national and regional levels to ensure complementarity and coordination of 
the management of various EU sources of funding. They should ensure that support from the 
RRF will be additional to the support provided under other Union funds and programmes and 
that such support would  not  cover the same  costs. RRPs should also  specify projects  where 
co-financing with other Union programmes is envisaged and indicate what is to be covered by 
each funding source. 

In the implementation phase, Member States are required to monitor the situation and 
provide assurance that there is no double funding. When submitting their payment request, 
Member  States  provide  a  management  declaration  which  includes  a  commitment  to  avoid 
double funding and reference to the monitoring and control systems in place. Also, as part of 
the bi-annual  report Member State will  provide  any possible update  on the use of other EU 
programmes  for  the  reforms  and  investments  covered  under  the  approved  RRP,  including  a 
specification of costs covered by those programmes in case of co-financing. The Commission 
is empowered to conduct appropriate checks and system audits on the basis of the information 
provided by the Member States.  

During  the  preparatory  phase  of  the  RRPs,  the  Commission  provided  support  to 
Member  States  to  identify  suitable  instruments  at  Union  level  to  create  synergies  with 
the measures financed under the RRF. A prominent example is the support provided under 

52 SWD(2021) 12 final. 

62 

 
 
                                                           
the  Technical  Support  Instrument  and  its  predecessor  the  Structural  Reform  Support 
Programme. Notably, they will help Member States in the preparation, implementation of the 
RRPs.  Sectoral  support will also  be available to Member States through the Horizon Policy 
Support Facility for the implementation of R&I policy reforms.  For example, in the context 
of  “Rail  Baltica”,  RRF  funding  was  combined  with  other  types  of  support,  including  the 
Connecting Europe Facility 2.0. The overarching projects on railway infrastructure remain the 
same  and  various  funds  support  different  types  of  expenditure.  Looking  ahead,  during  the 
lifespan  of  the  implementation  of  the  Facility,  the  Commission  will  continue  to  encourage 
Member  States  to  pay  close  attention  to  upcoming  opportunities  for  synergies  with  other 
Union programmes. 

Since the support under the RRF runs until 2026, the Commission assists in identifying 
other  funding  measures  covering  different  timeframes  or  stages  of  projects.  This  will 
ensure that financing is secured even after the current lifecycle of the RRF, which is limited in 
time.  Moreover,  the  Commission  helped  identify  Union  funds  and  programmes  that  are 
geared towards the same objective but would cover different type of measures. For example, 
in  the  area  of  vocational  education  and  training,  measures  under  the  RRF  would  provide 
support for the creation of digital infrastructure and funding under the cohesion policy funds 
for  2021-2027  would  focus  on  complementary  investments,  for  example  supporting 
vocational programmes for disadvantaged groups. 

The  Commission  ensures  that  the  RRF  is  complementary  to  the  cohesion  policy  funds 
under  the  2021-2027  programming.  While  the  preparation  period  of  the  RRF  is  almost 
completed,  the  programming  under  the  2021-2027  MFF  is  ongoing.  The  Commission  pays 
special  attention  to  the  link  between  the  RRF  and  the  funds  covered  by  the  Partnership 
Agreements with Member States and due to the overlapping timeframe in the negotiations, it 
was  possible  to  establish  synergies  among  these  different  Union  instruments.  In  particular, 
most of the Member States have a clear picture on the measures included in their RRPs at this 
stage and can take this into account in their programming of the cohesion policy funds. This 
will ensure that the measures are complementary. 

63 

 
 
 
 
5.  Conclusion 

In  the  context  of  the  Covid-19  crisis,  the  RRF  was  established  in  February  2021  to 
provide significant financial support to Member States to step up the implementation of 
sustainable  reforms  and  investments  and  promote  the  Union’s  economic,  social  and 
territorial  cohesion.  By  2026,  the  Facility  will  make  available  EUR  672.5  billion  in  loans 
and  non-repayable  support  to  Member  States,  to  support  their  reforms  and  investments 
undertaken  to  mitigate  the  impacts  of  the  coronavirus  pandemic  and  make  European 
economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and 
opportunities of the green and digital transitions. 

A year after the establishment of the Facility, major advancements have been made and 
implementation is firmly on its way. The Council adopted 22 recovery and resilience plans, 
which account for a total of EUR 445 billion (EUR 291 billion in non-repayable financing and 
EUR 154 billion in loans). The Commission disbursed EUR 56.6 billion in pre-financing and 
EUR 10 billion in a first payment in 2021. The implementation of the Facility is now firmly 
running  its  course,  with  around  30  payment  requests  expected  in  2022.  The  success  of  the 
“NextGenerationEU” bond and bill issuance is also a key milestone for the Union, giving the 
EU a powerful tool to fund the recovery and emerge from the crisis more resilient, fairer and 
greener.  

The  RRF  is  an  innovative  tool:  it  is  a  unique,  demand-driven,  ‘performance-based’ 
instrument,  which  provides  direct  financial  support  to  Member  States  linked  to  the 
achievement of results. Funds are disbursed against the implementation by 2026 of reforms 
and  investments  designed  to  respond  to  the  challenges  that  Member  States  are  facing. 
Disbursements of RRF funds are conditional on the satisfactory fulfilment of milestones and 
targets  –  agreed  ex-ante  with  Member  States  and  approved  by  the  Council  for  the 
implementation of the measures proposed by the Member States in their national recovery and 
resilience  plans.  The  first  payment  to  Spain  at  the  end  of  2021  already  demonstrates  the 
impact of the Facility in supporting the implementation of important reforms. As evidenced in 
this report, the reforms and investments supported by the Facility respond to Member States’ 
specific challenges and contribute to policy areas of key relevance for the future of the Union 
(the  ‘six  pillars’).  They  will  contribute  to  the  Union’s  ambitious  policy  agenda  to  steer  a 
sustainable,  fair  and  inclusive  recovery  and  to  make  the  EU’s  economy  more  resilient  to 
future shocks, while transforming EU economies and societies in line with the ambition of the 
twin transitions, and the European Pillar of Social Rights. 

The value added of the instrument is already tangible. The implementation of the Facility 
is  also  triggering  positive  spillover  effects  across  the  Union  and  supports  economic 
convergence.  Last  but  not  least,  the  Facility  supports  the  implementation  of  multi-country 
projects of key relevance for the Union, demonstrating as well the ‘additionality’ of EU funds. 
The  progress  made  in  the  implementation  of  the  recovery  and  resilience  plans  and  the 
disbursement of the Facility can be tracked live on a public online platform, the Recovery and 
Resilience Scoreboard, which displays the progress achieved for each milestone and target.  

64 

 
 
The Commission is committed to the implementation of the RRF being a shared success 
for all Europeans. To that end, the Commission will continue to do its utmost to involve all 
relevant stakeholders for a successful implementation of the plans and will maintain its close 
engagement  with  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  all  along  the  implementation  of 
the Facility.  

65 

 
 
 
 
ANNEX  

State of play overview 

Official 
submission 

COM’s positive 
assessment 

Council adoption 

1st pre-
financing paid 

OA signed  Payment request 

submission 

Payment 

Austria 

30 April 

21 June 

13 July 

Belgium 

30 April 

23 June 

13 July 

Bulgaria 

15 October 

Cyprus 

17 May 

8 July 

28 July 

Czech Republic 

1 June 

19 July 

8 September 

Denmark 

30 April 

17 June 

13 July 

Germany 

28 April 

22 June 

13 July 

Estonia 

18 June 

5 October 

29 October 

Greece 

27 April 

17 June 

13 July 

Spain 

30 April 

16 June 

13 July 

Finland 

27 May 

4 October 

29 October 

France 

28 April 

23 June 

13 July 

Croatia 

14 May 

8 July 

28 July 

Hungary 

11 May 

Ireland 

28 May 

16 July 

8 September 

Italy 

30 April 

22 June 

13 July 

28 September 
(EUR 450 
million) 

3 August (EUR 
770 million) 

9 September 
(EUR 157 
million) 

28 September 
(EUR 915 
million) 

2 September 
(EUR 201 
million) 

26 August (EUR 
2.25 billion) 

17 December 
(EUR 126 
million) 

9 August (EUR 
4 billion) 

17 August (EUR 
9 billion) 

21 January 2022 
(EUR 271 
million) 

19 August (EUR 
5.1 billion) 

28 September 
(EUR 818 
million) 

Has not 
requested pre-
financing 

13 August (EUR 
24.9 billion) 

66 

21 December 

29 December 

10 November 

11 November 

27 December 

(EUR 10 
billion) 

25 November 

26 November 

9 February 

22 December 

30 December 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Latvia 

30 April 

22 June 

13 July 

Lithuania 

14 May 

2 July 

28 July 

Luxembourg 

30 April 

18 June 

13 July 

Malta 

13 July 

16 September 

5 October 

16 February 

10 September 
(EUR 237 
million) 

17 August (EUR 
289 million) 

3 August (EUR 
12.1 million) 

17 December 
(EUR 41.1 
million) 

Netherlands 

Poland 

3 May 

Portugal 

22 April 

16 June 

13 July 

3 August (EUR 
2.2 billion) 

18 January 

25 January 

Romania 

31 May 

28 September 

29 October 

Slovakia 

29 April 

21 June 

13 July 

Slovenia 

30 April 

1 July 

28 July 

16 December 

2 December 
(EUR 1.8 
billion) 

13 October 
(EUR 823 
million) 

17 September 
(EUR 
231 million) 

Sweden 

28 May 

67