European action for more affordable, secure, and sustainable energy

Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper) With 20 billion euros in new funds, REPowerEU will support Member States in reducing their dependency on Russian fossil fuels and will also speed up the transition to renewable energy. These were the results of yesterday’s deal that was struck at the trilogue meeting to agree on financing arrangements for REPowerEU.

The additional funds will be directed to renewables, energy efficiency, grids and storage, electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, and breakthrough technologies, such as low-carbon hydrogen. In addition to raising expected energy-lending volumes for the next five years to unprecedented levels, also adopted a series of technical and policy measures aimed at accelerating the pace and maximizing the impact of the new investment.

On this topic for Brussels Morning spoke Siegfried Mureşan, EPP Group Vice-Chair for Budgets and Structural Policies.

“We delivered on what we promised: REPowerEU will enter into force at the beginning of next year. We successfully concluded negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council last night.” said the MEP.

Mureşan underlined that with 20 billion euros in new funds, REPowerEU will support Member States in reducing their dependency on Russian fossil fuels. It will also speed up the transition to renewable energy.

“Parliament successfully negotiated a pre-financing level of 20%. Member States will benefit from increased pre-financing to quickly implement reforms and investments. Investments and reforms undertaken by Member States from the onset of the war in Ukraine will be eligible – measures starting from 1 February 2022 can be financed within REPowerEU. We want to create an Energy Union and that is why we agreed that 30% percent of funds should be allocated to cross-border projects. So Member States can support each other in tackling this energy crisis. Unallocated funds from the RRF loan component – over €200 billion – shall not be unused. This is why we decided that Members States should notify their intention to access unused loans from the Recovery and Resilience Facility after REPowerEU enters into force. This will ensure predictability in accessing the new funds.” Mureşan concluded for the newspaper.