Economy and finance ministers today welcomed the assessment of national recovery and resilience plans for Bulgaria and Sweden. The Council will adopt its implementing decisions on the approval of these plans by written procedure shortly after the informal ministers’ meeting held today.
Following the formal adoption of the decisions, these two member
states will be able to use the facility’s funds to foster their economic
recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is the EU’s programme of
large-scale financial support in response to the challenges the pandemic
has posed to the European economy. The facility’s €672.5 billion will
be used to support the reforms and investments outlined in the member
states’ recovery and resilience plans.
Reforms and investments
The Council decisions are preceded by the Commission’s assessment of
the national recovery and resilience plans. The plans have to comply
with the 2019 and 2020 country-specific recommendations and reflect the
EU’s general objective of creating a greener, more digital and more
competitive economy.
Bulgaria’s recovery and resilience plan consists of €6.3 billion in
grants. Bulgaria intends to use 58.9% of the plan’s total allocation for
its climate objectives, by accelerating the decarbonisation of its
energy sector, improving the energy efficiency of private and public
buildings, and supporting sustainable forms of transport. 25.8% of the
plan’s total allocation will be dedicated to digital objectives such as
enhancing digital skills and the digitalisation of public administration
as well as supporting the development of very high capacity networks
across the country.
Sweden’s recovery and resilience plan consists of €3.3 billion in
grants. 44.4% of the plan’s total allocation supports climate
objectives. Sweden intends, among other things, to support the
conversion to renewable energy for heating in industry, further
decarbonise the industrial sector and improve its railway capacity.
Sweden plans to allocate 20.5% of the plan’s total allocation for
reforms and investments supporting digital objectives, such as
accelerating broadband network rollout in sparsely populated areas and
investing in an administration-wide digital infrastructure.
Next steps
Future disbursements from the facility will take place once the
member states reach milestones and targets set for each investment and
reform.
Council
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