The Commission has published the allocation of REACT-EU resources for the year 2022. Around €11 billion are now available for programming under Cohesion policy in all 27 Member States. These funds come in addition to the almost €40 billion made available in 2021. Member States will be able to continue implementing recovery measures by increasing the resilience of healthcare, business and support to the most vulnerable groups, while also contributing to the green and digital priorities for a smart, sustainable and cohesive recovery.

The REACT-EU resources are released in two tranches in order to capture thoroughly the evolving social and economic impact of the pandemic. Allocations are based on the countries' GDP, unemployment and youth unemployment. Additionally, the breakdown takes into account the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Member States' economies according to statistic data from 19 October 2021.

REACT-EU was the first instrument to be used under NextGenerationEU, the first payment of €800 million was made on 28 June 2021. The swift approval of measures has allowed Member States to allocate €37 billion, with total payments reaching €6.1 billion. Of these approved measures, €23.3 billion will be used through the European Regional Development Fund, €12.8 billion through the European Social Fund and €0.5 billion through the Fund for European Aid to the most Deprived.

The Commission recently launched the negotiations with the Member States on the use of the 2022 tranche of REACT-EU. Member States will now be able to send their programmes amendments to the Commission. Once these amendments are approved, the Member States will be able to access the new resources as of 1 January 2022.  

REACT-EU is part of NextGenerationEU and provides €50.6 billion of additional funding to cohesion policy programmes for the years 2021 and 2022, to be used by the end of 2023. The goal of REACT-EU is to support economic and social recovery from the coronavirus crisis by fostering crisis repair and resilience of healthcare, business and support to the most vulnerable groups. The funds also contribute to the green and digital priorities for a smart and sustainable recovery.

Around €40 billion are available under REACT-EU for 2021, of which 92% have already been allocated to investment programmes. The funds have been mainly used to bridge the gap between emergency measures taken at the beginning of the crisis and long-term crisis repair.

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