Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The European Council approves Germany’s €30.3 billion recovery plan, enhancing it with a €2.3 billion REPowerEU chapter to boost renewable energy and digital initiatives, amid ongoing pandemic recovery efforts.
What Is Included in Germany’s Amended Recovery Plan?
The EU Council endorsed the EU Commission’s positive review of Germany’s amended recovery and resilience plan. The amended program now includes a new REPowerEU chapter accounts for €2.3 billion. This will assist in accelerating Germany’s shift towards clean energy by raising the share of renewables in the German energy mix.
What Are the Financial Details of Germany’s Recovery Plan?
The modified plan has a firm focus on the green transition, assigning 49.5% of the available funds to efforts that support climate goals, up from 47% in the initial plan. The digital ambition of the plan remains firm with 47.5% of its funds committed to digital measures. The project is now worth €30.3 billion in donations and covers 17 reforms and 28 investments.
Why Did Germany Add a REPowerEU Chapter?
Germany introduced its original national recovery and resilience plan on 28 April 2021. The Council endorsed the Commission’s positive assessment of the plan utilising the Council implementing conclusion of 13 July 2021. The EU Council executing decision was amended on 14 February 2023 and 8 December 2023. On 30 April 2024, Germany presented a modified national plan, including a REPowerEU chapter. The EU Commission submitted a favourable assessment of the plan on 27 June 2024.
The RRF is the EU’s large-scale economic support programme in reaction to the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has posed to the European economy. It is the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU, a temporary recovery mechanism that allows the EU Commission to boost funds to help improve the immediate economic and social damage induced by the pandemic.
To profit from the facility, member states must offer recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) to the Commission, forming the reforms and investments they plan to implement by the end of 2026. Regulation (EU) 2023/435 as references REPowerEU chapters, in force since 1 March 2023, seeks to end the EU’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels by conserving energy, diversifying energy supplies and revving the clean energy transition.
How Does the EU Support Member State Recovery Plans?
Under the REpowerEU regulation, EU governments have added specific chapters to their national RRPs to fund critical investments and reforms which will help accomplish the REPowerEU objectives.
RepowerEU improves the RRF monetary envelope by €20 billion in new assistance. In addition, member states can voluntarily reposition up to €5.4 billion from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve to the RRF to finance REPowerEU measures. This comes on top of the current transfer chances of 5% from the cohesion policy funds (up to €17.9 billion). So far, €648 billion has been dedicated to this end. To date, all RRPs have been consented, 63 payment requests have been acquired and €240 billion have been disbursed.
