1. Stocktaking and updates on the Recovery and Resilience Facility 

On 16 July, Ministers took stock of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).  

The European Council adopted an implementing decision approving Germany’s modified recovery and resilience plan, that includes a new REPowerEU chapter. This will contribute to accelerating Germany’s transition towards clean energy by increasing the share of renewables in the German energy mix. 

Also in July, the Council approved updated plans submitted by Greece, Cyprus, Poland, and Finland.  

Meanwhile, the European Commission adopted two decisions on 26 July, issuing a positive preliminary assessment to lift the suspension of payment of EUR 714 million to Portugal, and EUR 37.2 million to Romania (net of pre-financing), after acknowledging the progress made in implementing their respective recovery and resilience plans.  

This comes after earlier suspensions, where the Commission had found certain milestones and targets had not been satisfactorily fulfilled in Portugal’s third and fourth payment request and Romania’s second payment request. Portugal has instituted reforms in the health sector and regulated professions and the Commission is satisfied that Portugal has now taken measures to ensure that all outstanding milestones and targets have been satisfactorily completed. Romania, on the other hand, has implemented measures to promote the green transition in the country and has satisfactorily completed the outstanding milestones.  

Likewise, the European Commission endorsed positive preliminary assessments of the outstanding RRF payment requests of Slovakia, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands in July. In addition, the Commission issued updated guidance on the recovery and resilience plans.  

 

2. European Commission proposes excessive deficit procedures Against 7 Member States under the Stability and Growth pact 

The Commission presented its proposals for Council decisions on the opening of an excessive deficit procedure for seven member states: Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia. This was followed by an exchange of views by ministers. The Council also discussed a Commission recommendation for a Council decision on Romania, which has been under an excessive deficit procedure since 2020 and has not taken effective action to remedy this situation. The Council will be invited to adopt the decisions by the end of July 2024.  

This procedure aims to ensure that all member states return to or maintain discipline in their governments’ budgets and avoid running excessive deficits to maintain low government debt or reduce high debt to sustainable levels. Compliance with budgetary discipline is based on the criteria and reference values set in the EU Treaties: Member States’ deficit should not exceed 3% of their gross domestic product (GDP) and debt should not exceed 60% of GDP.  

Towards the end of the year, the Commission will invite the Council to adopt recommendations addressed to the member states to take effective action to correct their deficit within a given period. The recommendations, which are expected to be submitted at the same time as the European Semester Autumn Package, may contain a corrective budgetary path, expressed in numerical terms, and a deadline. 

 

3. The EU Council agrees on its position on the draft EU annual budget for 2025 

On 17 July, the Council reached an agreement on its position on the 2025 EU draft budget. In total, the Council’s position for next year’s budget amounts to EUR 191.53 billion in commitments and EUR 146.21 billion in payments. The Council agreed on a prudent approach in general as it stressed the importance of the 2025 budget to continue showing the EU’s solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to respond to the related crises.  

According to the Council, next year’s budget should be on one hand, realistic, in line with actual needs, ensure prudent budgeting, and leave sufficient margins under the multiannual financial framework (MFF) ceilings to deal with unforeseen circumstances and address challenges. On the other, it should provide enough resources to ensure the implementation of the EU’s policies and programmes and to allow commitments already made to be paid in due time. 

 

4. Members-only funding activities – Please save the date! 

  • Social Europe Academy advanced funding training, online via Zoom– 20 and 27 September 2024, 13:30-15:00 CEST. Please register here (20 September) and here (27 September) 
  • Funding network meeting – 14 November 2024, registration to open soon 
Category: News