What is Europe’s Recovery Plan and how does it work?

In partnership with The European Commission
What is Europe’s Recovery Plan and how does it work?
Copyright euronews
By Euronews
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In this Crash Course, Real Economy takes a closer look at Europe's pandemic recovery fund.

What is Next Generation EU?

Next Generation EU is the EU’s recovery plan for Europe, to help its economies and societies bounce back from the pandemic crisis.

The recovery fund money allocated is an unprecedented €806.9 billion (in current prices - it was €750 billion in 2018 prices when it was first announced) to be invested to create jobs and opportunities and transform countries’ economies to make them greener, more digital and more equal.

What is the Recovery and Resilience Facility?

At the heart of the EU’s recovery plan is the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) with €723.8 billion (in current prices) in loans of €385.8 billion and grants of €338 billion for EU countries to invest, create jobs and build a green and digital future.

To access the RRF funds, countries have submitted Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRP), also known as national recovery plans. These lay out the reforms and public investments the countries will make.

These are in key areas such as new green technologies, clean energy and transport, renovating buildings, faster internet and 5G and education and vocational training.

Twenty two countries have had their plans approved by the European Commission.

Next Generation EU Funds also include €50.6 billion for REACT-EU ( a new initiative that continues the EU’s crisis response and repair measures) as well as smaller amounts to other EU funds.

Which EU countries have received money?

As of February 2022, Spain is the first and only country to have met the conditions and put in place reforms to receive its first disbursement of recovery money. It received €10 billion in December 2021.

Many countries have also received emergency pre-financing.

You can keep up to date with which countries have received money, and what projects are being financed by looking at the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard.

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