It's a pleasure to be back for a 10th Recovery and Resilience Dialogue.
Since we last met in February, the Recovery and Resilience Facility marked its two-year anniversary. It was a good moment to take stock of where we stand with the Facility so far.
Despite the various challenges, the RRF represents a major step forward in coordinating national economic and social policies, and in making good use of common funding tools.
This agile instrument is allowing the EU to respond forcefully to challenges such as the energy crisis and the net-zero transition.
Its success is also thanks to the efforts and commitment of the Members of this House.
The speed of disbursements, and the amounts involved, are unprecedented for an EU programme. The same goes for its combination of reforms and investments, which have a clear anchor in the European Semester.
RRF funds are being disbursed on a continuous basis. With a third payment now made to Spain - €6 billion - the Commission has disbursed more than €150 billion to Member States.
Implementation continues to move ahead as Member States carry out their investment and reform agendas.
To showcase progress, in March the Commission launched an interactive map to monitor how Member States are putting their Recovery and Resilience Plans into effect. It provides locations and information on certain RRF-supported projects that Member States are implementing on the ground.
We have started to work on the mid-term evaluation of the RRF and intend to publish our results in February 2024.
Soon, we will consult Members of the RRF Working Group to gather your views.
At our last Dialogue, we discussed the modification of Recovery and Resilience Plans in the context of the updated guidance document for Member States that the Commission published a few days before.
As you know, the guidance aims to help Member States strengthen their RRPs in view of changed circumstances. This includes ways to improve competitiveness in the context of the net-zero transition and to add dedicated REPowerEU chapters to their plans.
Since the amending RRF Regulation entered into force on March 1, we have asked Member States to submit their revised plans as soon as possible. They should make the best use of their plan's upcoming revision, while increasing the level of ambition.
And, given the tight deadlines, they should bear in mind the need to put their identified reforms and investments into effect quickly and address any absorption bottlenecks.
Here, as Madame Chair already said, I would like to congratulate Estonia as the first Member State to submit a proposal to amend its RRP and include a REPowerEU chapter.
As you are aware, the final deadline for implementation of reforms and investments is 2026. While this was always going to be an ambitious timeline, the priority is now to speed this up.
Member States should make every effort to submit payment requests on time, based on fulfilling the relevant reforms and investments in line with the timelines set out in the Council Implementing Decisions. This will allow for funds to be disbursed in an orderly and timely way.
In exceptional circumstances, where a Member State does not meet a milestone or target on time, it may still present a payment request and accept a partial payment. In such cases, it would have a further six months to meet the relevant milestone or target.
However: if the Member State concerned cannot achieve this within this period, its financial contribution will be permanently reduced in line with the payment suspension methodology.
In presenting the methodology, we have responded to requests from the European Parliament and the European Court of Auditors.
It provides clarity and transparency on the approach that the Commission will follow in such cases.
The aim is to preserve equality of treatment and incentives for Member States to implement their RRPs in full.
Now, let me turn now to loan requests.
While EU bonds have recently seen a rise in funding costs, they still represent a significant funding advantage for most Member States. And that means a cost saving.
In line with the amended RRF Regulation, Member States have communicated to the Commission whether they intend to request loan support under the RRF.
Earlier today, the Commission transmitted an overview of these intentions, and proposed a way forward for distributing the available resources, to the European Parliament and Council.
Ten Member States have expressed an interest in requesting RRF loans for a total amount of €145 billion. This amount is lower than the €225 billion that are available.
To be clear: the communication of a Member State's intentions is without prejudice to its formal decision to request a loan, which can be made until 31 August 2023. Any loan request must be accompanied by a revised RRP with additional reforms and investments.
Member States should also bear in mind their capacity to absorb additional funds and make the relevant investments according to the agreed timelines.
Since the RRF Regulation came into force, the economic and geopolitical context has changed considerably. Many new challenges and geopolitical realities make it imperative for the EU to preserve and increase its global competitiveness.
The European Semester Spring Package will pay particular attention to our long-term competitiveness and productivity.
It will provide an updated and detailed analysis on energy security compared with last year.
On country reports: these will identify challenges that are only partially addressed, or not addressed, by the RRPs.
They will look closely at progress made on implementing the plans, highlighting examples of fulfilled milestones and targets of significant reforms and investments in line with past recommendations, as well as any emerging challenges.
On country-specific recommendations: this year, the Commission intends to propose only a limited set of recommendations.
These may include tackling barriers to the national business environment or sharpening the EU's competitive edge through clean-tech investment. They will help each country to contribute to the EU's collective implementation of the Green Deal Industrial Plan.
Honourable Members
The European Parliament will continue to be an important ally through this next implementation phase. We rely on your ongoing support and contributions, now and in the future.
I look forward to continuing our exchanges in the coming months, and also in the years remaining in the lifetime of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Thank you.
