NextGenerationEU: European Commission endorses positive preliminary assessment of Luxembourg’s request for €20.2 million disbursement under the Recovery and Resilience Facility
The European Commission has today endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of Luxembourg’s payment request for €20.2 million of grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU.
On 28 December 2022, Luxembourg submitted to the Commission a payment request based on the achievement of the 26 milestones and targets selected in the Council Implementing Decision for the first instalment. This includes the entry into force of the “Housing Pact 2.0” reform aimed at increasing the supply of affordable rental housing offered by municipalities, as well as the digitalisation of the public sector with the development of the “MyGuichet.lu” mobile application. It also covers green mobility measures with, for instance, the implementation of a legal framework setting a minimum percentage of clean vehicles in public procurement contracts. The milestones and targets also confirm progress towards the completion of investment projects related to ultra-secure communication with the Luxembourg Quantum Communication Infrastructure Laboratory, the upskilling of the workforce with the launch of the “FutureSkills” programme, and the digitalisation of health.
With their request, the Luxembourg authorities provided detailed and comprehensive evidence demonstrating the satisfactory fulfilment of the 26 milestones and targets. The Commission has thoroughly assessed this information before presenting its positive preliminary assessment of the payment request.
Luxembourg’s recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures in 8 thematic components. The plan will be supported by €82.7 million in grants, €12.1 million of which was disbursed to Luxembourg in pre-financing on 3 August 2021.
Payments under the RRF are performance-based and contingent on Member States implementing the investments and reforms outlined in their respective recovery and resilience plans.
Next steps
The Commission has now sent its positive preliminary assessment of Luxembourg’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), asking for its opinion. The EFC’s opinion, to be delivered within a maximum of four weeks, should be taken into account in the Commission’s assessment. Following the EFC’s opinion, the Commission will adopt the final decision on the disbursement of the financial contribution, in accordance with the examination procedure, through a comitology committee. Following the adoption of the decision by the Commission, the disbursement to Luxembourg can take place.
The Commission will assess further payment requests by Luxembourg based on the fulfilment of the milestones and targets outlined in the Council Implementing Decision, reflecting progress on the implementation of the investments and reforms.
The amounts disbursed to the Member States are published in the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, which shows progress of the implementation of the national recovery and resilience plans.