EU economy and recovery_SN_Fig 10

Contributing to the EU’s recovery, total payments under NGEU and its centrepiece, the RRF, have reached €296.3 billion. The €83.8 billion increase since December 2023 suggests renewed momentum in disbursements following the revision of the RRF recovery plans to include energy-focused REPowerEU chapters (a process yet to be finalised for Bulgaria, Germany and Luxembourg) and address challenges such as high inflation. In addition to disbursing REPowerEU pre-financing, the European Commission has made 18 RRF payments over the last six months (up from four in the previous half-year), including first payments for three Member States (Germany, Finland and Poland).
In February 2024, a mid-term evaluation deemed the RRF’s implementation to be well under way, but with differences across the EU. At the time of writing, five Member States (Belgium, Hungary, Ireland,the Netherlands and Sweden) had not yet received any regular RRF payments (i.e. those based on achieving objectives under their recovery plans). In June 2024, the European Commission confirmed that most Member States continued to make good progress in implementing the RRF, but stressed the urgent need for some to address emerging delays and structural challenges. With new EU fiscal rules in place after almost four years under the general escape clause, NGEU and the RRF are expected to play a significant role in financing investment and reform measures in strategic areas such as the green and digital transitions. Full implementation of the plans is crucial, since around 60 % of committed NGEU and RRF resources remain to be disbursed in the final years up to 2026.