Commission endorses positive preliminary assessment of France´s third payment request for €7.5 billion under the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Today, the Commission has endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of France’s third payment request for €7.5 billion under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.

Following its assessment of the payment request submitted on 16 January 2024, the Commission has preliminarily concluded that France has satisfactorily completed the 15 milestones and 24 targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision for the third instalment, which cover the first milestones and targets of France’s REPowerEU chapter.

Nine reforms and 30 investments will drive positive change for citizens and businesses in France in the areas of digitalisation, as well as research and innovation for the green transition. The payment request covers important investments in the areas of energy renovation of buildings, greening of transport by bolstering rail over road, acceleration of transport infrastructure works, as well as the modernisation of hospitals and health care supply. The payment request also includes a set of reforms, such as the entry into force of the Law on the acceleration of renewable energy production.

Flagship measures in this payment request include:

• Digital upgrade of the State: these investments will contribute to improve the efficiency of public action and the provide a more efficient, more collaborative, and more mobile digital work environment for State employees.
• Decarbonisation of industry under the REPowerEU chapter: this includes support for industrial heat decarbonisation, energy efficiency and process change improvements of industry. France is the first country to start implementing its REPowerEU reforms, helping the country decrease its dependency on fossil fuel and increase its energy security.

Next steps

The Commission has now sent its preliminary assessment of France´s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to France can take place following the EFC’s opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission.