Recovery plans get EU green light
BRUSSELS — Council of the European Union on Tuesday approved the pandemic recovery plans of 12 member states, including the bloc’s four biggest economies, in a move seen as paving the way for an economic revival from the unprecedented recession caused by COVID-19.
The approvals will allow the dozen EU members to start unlocking funds for the pre-financing of projects that are intended to put Europe on more solid economic footing while also making it greener and more digitally advanced. They represent the first batch of national recovery plans to get the go-ahead.
The nations comprise the EU’s juggernauts — France, Germany, Italy and Spain — and Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovakia.
“I think today is a historic day because it’s the first time that the EU, the European Commission supported states in such a way,” said Slovenian Finance Minister Andrej Sircelj, whose country holds the current presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Sircelj praised the support from the EU authorities that will include bond issuance, with grants and loans given to the countries in need.
Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission’s executive vicepresident in charge of an economy that works for people, said: “This is excellent news. We have come a long way in preparing these ambitious plans. The EU funding can now start to flow to finance much-needed reforms and investments in each of these countries.”
The agreement reached on Tuesday will allow the 12 nations to unlock 13 percent of pre-financing, perhaps as soon as the end of the month, Dombrovskis said.
The money will be allocated from the Resilience and Recovery Facility, an instrument at the heart of Next Generation EU, the bloc’s massive recovery package. Up to 312.5 billion euros ($368.2 billion) will be available in grants, and as much as 360 billion euros in loans.
EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said the action “will boost confidence … and allow investments and reforms to start”.