Recovery plans: MEPs push for wise use of money, democratic oversight

Progress with implementation of recovery plans

Apart from a pre-financing instalment of up to 13% of the allocated funds, EU countries get the rest of their payments under the Recovery and Resilience Facility upon meeting specific targets and milestones.

So far, most countries have received their pre-financing, while eight countries have made requests for a first payment and Spain has made a request for a second payment.

Three countries have not had their national plans approved: the Netherlands has not submitted its plan, while approval of the plans from Poland and Hungary has been held up because of concerns about the rule of law and risks related to fraud, conflicts of interest and corruption.

The European Commission gave its positive assessment of Poland’s national recovery plan on 1 June, which needs to be approved by the Council. Parliament criticised the Commission’s decision in a resolution adopted on 9 June, saying that full compliance with EU values is a prerequisite for any EU country to get recovery funds. MEPs also called on the Council not to give its approval until Poland meets all conditions.

Recovery funding goes to EU countries either as grants or as loans. Member states have made plans for almost the full amount of grants available, but have indicated they would like to use €166 billion out of the €385.8 billion available for loans.

MEPs urge countries to make use of the full potential of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, including loans, to counter the effects of the pandemic and emerging challenges.

Parliament’s oversight

The European Parliament is actively involved in scrutinising the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. MEPs hold debates and adopt resolutions on the topic, Parliament’s budgets and economic committees have regular discussions with commissioners (four meetings were held in 2021) and there are frequent meetings at the technical level with Commission officials (20 meetings in 2021).

MEPs want to make sure that the funds are used transparently and in compliance with the rules and that the Commission conducts effective monitoring and audit of the member states.

Parliament’s report notes that national public administrations face difficulties in absorbing all of the funding in a short space of time as all reforms and investments must be carried out by 2026. MEPs insist that local and regional authorities, social partners and civil society organisations should be involved in carrying out the national plans to ensure successful implementation and democratic accountability.

MEPs will vote on the report setting out Parliament’s views on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility on 23 June. The Commission is expected to present a report on the progress with recovery plans in mid-July.