The Netherlands is one of the countries that submitted a late application for the European Reconstruction and Resilience Fund or Corona Reconstruction Fund.
Windmills off the French coast. Investments in green energy are eligible for a subsidy from the Corona Recovery Fund. PHOTO Damien MEYER / AFP
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BRUSSELS (ANP) – EU countries are only now beginning to apply on a large scale for European subsidies from the so-called Corona reconstruction fund. This has already been possible since 2021. Time is of the essence, because this fund ends in 2026 and provides a total of 650 billion euros in subsidies and loans.
The trend towards increased applications results from the evaluation report of the Corona Reconstruction Fund from 2024, which the European Commission presented on Thursday.
Each EU country is only allowed to submit a limited number of applications per year. The Netherlands was among the late applicants but will receive a first payment this year.
To fill the fund, the European Commission has borrowed money and has so far issued bonds worth 60.2 billion, the European Commission announced on Thursday. The Commission can borrow money on more favorable terms than some individual Member States because of the shared credibility of the European economy.
But it was precisely the rising European debt as a result of these loans that the European Court of Auditors expressed concern about on Wednesday. A report on Europe’s 2023 spending published on Wednesday said there is still no developed plan for how and when these loans will be repaid.
The Corona Recovery Fund was launched in 2021 as an additional means to help EU member states overcome the economic setbacks of the pandemic. In this first year of the fund, only one application was made for funds from the fund. The following year there were thirteen and in 2023 there were thirty-two, according to the report. However, in the coming years, the European Commission expects that EU countries will gain momentum and that the Commission will receive around 45 projects annually.
(October 10, 2024)
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