Commission endorses positive preliminary assessment of France’s request for €10.3 billion disbursement under the Recovery and Resilience Facility

The Commission has today endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of France’s payment request for €10.3 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU.

On 31 July 2023, France submitted to the Commission a payment request based on the achievement of the 16 milestones and 39 targets selected in the Council Implementing Decision for the second instalment. They cover investments in the areas of energy renovation of public and private buildings, decarbonisation of industry, support to railways and digital connectivity. The payment request also includes a set of reforms in areas including public employment services, energy performance of buildings, circular economy, and research.

With their request, the French authorities provided detailed and comprehensive evidence demonstrating the fulfilment of the 16 milestones and 39 targets. The Commission has thoroughly assessed this information before presenting its positive preliminary assessment of the payment request.

The recovery and resilience plan of France will be financed by €40.3 billion in grants, of which €12.5 billion have already been disbursed. This includes €5.1 billion paid in pre-financing on 19 August 2021 and a first payment worth €7.4 billion disbursed on 4 March 2022.

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 France’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 France can take place.

The Commission will assess further payment requests by France 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.

Members of the College said

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said: “Very happy to see continued progress in the implementation of the French recovery and resilience plan. Today’s ‘bonne nouvelle’ is that our assessment of the second payment request is positive. As soon as Member States will give their greenlight, we will proceed with the disbursement of €10.3 billion under NextGenerationEU. To achieve this, France has carried out important reforms related to research, public employment services, and the circular economy. France has also been delivering on REPowerEU, by investing in the energy renovation of public and private buildings and in the decarbonisation of its industry.”