European Parliament approves €672.5 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility

European Parliament approves €672.5 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility

During its February plenary session, the European Parliament approved the establishment of the Recovery and Resilience Facility - the €672.5 billion flagship EU programme. The programme makes up a substantial portion of the €750 billion COVID-19 recovery flan. 

The money will be available in grants and loans for reform and public investment projects that could be implemented by 2026. National measures taken since February 2020 will also be eligible. There are six areas that the Recovery and Resiliency Facility can support:

  • The green transition
  • The digital transformation
  • Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth
  • Social and territorial cohesion
  • Building resilience and crisis preparedness
  • Policies for the next generation, including education and skills.

At the national level, plans should allocate at least 37% of the budget to climate and biodiversity and 20% to digital measures. This is to ensure that the facility focusses on its goals of mitigating the economic and social consequences of the pandemic but also preparing EU economies for a sustainable, digital future. The rules prohibit the funding of measures that cause significant harm to the environment. 

Over several phases, the grants and loans will be based on several criteria including population, gross domestic product per capita and unemployment.