Brussels urges countries to ratify the recovery fund “as soon as possible”

The economic vice-president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, on Tuesday asked the countries to ratify “as soon as possible” the European recovery fund in their national parliaments, so that their aid can begin to “flow” to companies and citizens most affected by the crisis.

The Latvian has intervened before the plenary session of the European Parliament in a debate prior to the vote to approve the rules of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRF, for its acronym in English), the main pillar of the anti-crisis plan that will distribute to the capitals up to 672,000 million euros between subsidies and loans.

However, Brussels will not be able to raise funds in the debt markets until all countries have ratified the EU Own Resources Decision. So far, only six Member States have completed the relevant national procedure (France, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Slovenia and Portugal).

“It is essential that the Member States ratify the Own Resources Decision as soon as possible so that the Commission can start its financing operations”, stressed Dombrovskis.

“We have to get the RRF up and running as quickly as we can because European money must start flowing to Member States to support the recovery, to businesses and citizens, and to restart economies in a sustainable and resilient direction,” he added. .

The vote in the European Parliament on the RRF regulation, the result of which will be known this Wednesday, will give the starting signal for governments to formally present their recovery plans to absorb aid and that they must have an “adequate balance” of investments and reforms.

Brussels is “in constant contact” with the capitals to assist in the preparation of these strategies and since the exchanges began, “substantial progress” has been made. As explained by Dombrovskis, 18 countries have already sent the community authorities a complete or almost complete draft of their plans.

“However, there is a lot of work ahead. Even the countries with the most advanced plans are working to translate investments and reforms into operational objectives and to comply with other requirements of the regulation,” he warned.

Furthermore, Dombrovskis has emphasized that these plans “should not be a mosaic of small measures with little impact”, but rather “have to reflect a clear strategy” to join the green and digital transitions and tackle “a significant set” of reforms. structural recommendations in recent years.

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