During yesterday's informal videoconference, economy and finance ministers assessed positively the Recovery and Resilience plans submitted by Estonia, Finland, and Romania. The plans, already approved by the European Commission in the past month, are worth respectively €969.3 million (Estonia), €2.1 billion (Finland), and €29 billion (Romania). Almost half of the latter (€14.2 billion) will be distributed to Romania as grants, while the remainder will be given in loans.

The funds will be used to support the green and digital transitions in the above-mentioned member states, as well as to finance the strengthening of the healthcare system. The European Commission will now be able to approve the pre-financing for these member states, with a value of up to 13% of their total allocation and which should allow them to kick-start their investments.

With the approval of these plans, 22 plans have received the final approval of the Council by implementing decision, the same amount that received a positive assessment by the European Commission. The plans of Hungary and Poland are still waiting for this positive assessment, which the Commission is unwilling to provide amid rule of law concerns in both countries. A decision is likely to be taken once the Court of Justice rules on the legality of the conditionality mechanism which links EU funding to respecting key EU values, including the rule of law. Meanwhile, the Netherlands has not yet submitted a plan as government formation talks are still ongoing.

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