The peak of the Covid-19 pandemic forced European leaders to find new ways to stimulate economy in European countries, especially for those countries which had been severely affected by Coronavirus. Like that, the “NextGenerationEU” was born, making €750 billion available for EU countries to be spent by the end of 2026. All Member States agreed to take on joint debt, and the money was intended not only to respond to the public-health crisis, but more broadly to bolster the “resilience” of EU countries over the long term.

Now, however, the deadline is approaching, and data show that only a relatively small percentage of funds has actually been disbursed, with major disparities among countries. An EDJNet investigation led by Alternative Economiques looked into the causes and consequences of this delay.

Main findings:

• Halfway through the program, only 32% of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds has been paid out to the Member States, with great variations across countries. Discrepancies depend on many things, including the type of channels used to spend the funds, which – additionally – makes it even harder to trace the amounts spent, because funds may be combined with domestic resources.
• Member States are afflicted by serious delays and difficulties in absorbing funds, with the risks of misuses and irregularities of money. Part of the problem lies on the fact that countries set really ambitious targets, which were not spread evenly over time.
• Countries have a tendency to favor investments which are easily implementable, often at the expense of the quality and added value of projects. Member States that had ambitious plans – like Italy – ended up entirely scrapping some projects, basically undermining the plan’s original goals and reducing the long-term impact of the recovery plan.
• The lists of the 100 biggest beneficiaries, which States are obliged to publish and update twice a year, tell us that in many countries resources are concentrated in the hands of a few. Also, lists do not reveal who actually uses the funds, as many of the names are public bodies that merely act as intermediaries between the government and the organisations that use the money on the ground.

Stories

The data unit

EDJNet members which took part in this investigation:

Media uptakes

From EDJNet members:

• Eurologus (Hungary), Hiába ígérte Orbán, hogy minden EU-pénzt hazahoz, minden jel szerint a magyar kormány végképp veszni hagy 10 milliárd eurónyi uniós forrást, 18/03/2025