The implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), under the Recovery Fund (NextGenerationEU), is being accelerated, according to the European Commission’s third annual report for 2024, published today.

The RRF, with €650 billion in grants and loans, is a critical driver of ambitious investment and reform in Member States, in initiatives that promote the green and digital transition and strengthen the EU’s resilience and competitiveness.

Specifically, the annual report on the implementation of RRF projects in 2024, records that to date, the Commission has received 69 payment applications from 25 Member States and disbursed over €267 billioni.e. almost 41% of the available RRF funding. By the end of the year, more than €300 billion in RRF funds is expected to be disbursed.

Implementation and disbursements under the RRF have accelerated after some delays in 2023 largely related to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, high inflation, supply constraints and the need to adopt REPowerEU funds. To date, the Council has approved 26 such funds, which provide additional resources to deliver reforms and investments that diversify the EU’s energy supply, accelerate the green transition and support vulnerable households.

Since its inception, the RRF has led to more than €82 billion of investment directly supporting businesses. In addition, with RRF support, 34 million megawatt hours of energy consumption were saved, over 11.8 million people participated in education and training, and 9.8 million people benefited from climate-related disaster protection measures.

It is also noted that the EU has continued to successfully raise funds in the capital markets to finance the Facility, with more than €60.2 billion issued in NextGenerationEU Green Bonds to date.

The Commission stresses that, due to the time-bound nature of the RRF, all efforts must remain focused on the full and timely implementation of the plans by 2026. Member States must continue to rapidly and fully implement their National Recovery and Resilience Plans and the Commission actively supports them in these efforts.

Protecting the EU’s financial interests is a top priority for the Commission. Therefore, it continuously strengthens the control and supervision framework, taking into account the recommendations of the European Parliament, the Council and the European Court of Auditors. The Commission carried out 17 risk-based ex post audits in the period September 2023-August 2024 on the satisfactory fulfillment of milestones and targets. Four system audits of national control systems were also carried out. By the end of 2023, the Commission had audited all Member States at least once.