Parliament starts scrutiny of national Recovery Plans

21.04.2021 11:49

Parliament starts scrutiny of national Recovery Plans

business man sit on chair and watch growth cloud

The European Parliament will start to scrutinise the national Recovery Plans of EU Member States. The newly set-up Working Group of the European Parliament will meet for the first time this afternoon.

"The money EU countries receive from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) should be spent on improving the future of our citizens through a greener, more digital and resilient Europe. The projects we agree to finance will help people affected by the Corona pandemic, it will make our economies more modern, more competitive, more digital, greener and cleaner", said Siegfried Mureşan MEP, Vice-Chairman of the EPP Group, ahead of the first meeting.

The Working Group will set in motion the procedures so that the European Parliament can make sure that every Euro of the 672.5 billion Recovery Fund is spent where it’s needed.

"We expect the Member States to consult with all national stakeholders to deliver ambitious, modern and sustainable national plans and should any national plan deviate from the clearly-set standards, we will not hold back in demanding a revision and improvement of the national proposals. The European Commission is obliged by law to take the opinion of the European Parliament into account", Mureşan explained.

Using the recovery for investments which have a long-lasting impact on EU growth is of high importance, underlined Esther de Lange MEP, Vice-Chairwoman of the EPP Group: "It is of the utmost importance that the national plans improve competitiveness, strike the right balance between investments and reforms and deliver real European added value for the green and digital transition. Some of the fields where we expect serious commitment are cross-border sustainable energy and transport infrastructure, investments in high-speed internet and data cloud capacities, and improving the energy efficiency of our buildings, de Lange concluded.

Note to editors

The EPP Group is the largest political group in the European Parliament with 175 Members from all EU Member States

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