What is the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF)?
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is a temporary instrument that is the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU - the EU’s plan to emerge stronger and more resilient from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the Facility, the Commission raises funds by borrowing on the capital markets (issuing bonds on behalf of the EU). These are then available to its Member States, to implement ambitious reforms and investments that:
- make their economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and prepared for the green and digital transitions, in line with the EU’s priorities;
- address the challenges identified in country-specific recommendations under the European Semester framework of economic and social policy coordination
The Facility deploys up to €577billion (in current prices) in loans and grants to support the reforms and investments agreed with the Member States in their national Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs).
The RRF is also crucial for implementing the REPowerEU plan – the Commission’s response to the socio-economic hardships and global energy market disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It is a temporary instrument, lasting until end-2026 to help Member States recover from the current crisis and make their economies more resilient.
How does the RRF interact with the European Semester?
The European Commission coordinates EU Member States' macroeconomic policies through the European Semester. Each country’s RRP, which sets out the reforms and investments it will make with RRF support, is built around the challenges and priorities identified in the European Semester’s country-specific recommendations. In this way, the RRF turns the Semester’s policy guidance into concrete action.
How does the RRF work?
To benefit from support under the RRF, EU governments have submitted national recovery and resilience plans, outlining the reforms and investments they will implement by end-2026, with clear milestones and targets. The plans allocated at least 37% of their budget to green measures and 20% to digital measures.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is performance based. This means that the Commission only pays out the amounts to each country when they have achieved the agreed milestones and targets towards completing the reforms and investments included in their plan.
Once a Member State has completed an agreed number of milestones and targets, they submit a request for payment (up to twice a year). The Commission assesses these requests for payment to ensure that the milestones and targets have been fulfilled. If so, it disburses the amounts it has raised on the capital markets.
In line with the legal deadlines and the temporary nature of the Facility, Member States must meet all milestones and targets by 31 August 2026, and the Commission must make the final payments by 31 December 2026.
In June 2025, the Commission adopted a Communication taking stock of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and offering guidance to Member States to ensure its successful closure in 2026.
Can a Member State amend their RRPs?
Member States can revise their plans based on the available legal grounds under the RRF Regulation. The Guidance on Recovery and Resilience Plans in the context of REPowerEU of February 2023 describes in detail how Member States can request such amendments.
A revision can be linked to financial aspects, that is:
- to benefit from additional REPowerEU funds;
- to reflect a change in a Member State's maximum financial allocation under the RRF;
- resources needed in order to take up additional RRF loans.
Member States can also amend their plan if they can demonstrate that objective circumstances render the implementation of certain milestones and targets unfeasible. For example, those objective circumstances could be linked to inflation, shortages in the supply chain or the fact that there is a better alternative to fulfil the intended policy objective of a measure.
In June 2025, the European Commission also launched a simplification process of the plans with Member States, in order to accelerate implementation ahead of the end-2026 deadline.
Where can I find information on my Member State’s RRP?
All relevant country-specific information, including the recovery and resilience plans, the Commission’s assessment of the plans as well as information on payments requested by the Member States and funds paid out by the Commission.
What is the status of implementation of my Member State’s RRP?
The map provides examples of reforms and investments supported by the Recovery and Resilience Facility in the different EU Member States. While it is not an exhaustive database of projects, it is regularly updated as implementation progresses.
Mid-term evaluation
The RRF Regulation also requires that the Commission provides the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions with a mid-term evaluation on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. This will be followed by an 'ex post evaluation' in 2028, once the measures included in the recovery plans are fully implemented.
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