EU Commission reports fifth year of Recovery Fund, with €123 billion (€123 billion) still to disburse by year-end
The European Commission published its fifth annual report on the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the post-pandemic instrument launched in 2021 under NextGenerationEU. Commissioner Raffaele Fitto said it had delivered reforms and investments, while Valdis Dombrovskis said the Commission was now assessing the final payment requests. The remaining €123 billion, about 21% of the total, is set to be disbursed by the end of the year.
Bottom line — Member States fulfilled 4,082 of almost 6,000 milestones and targets, with 1,899 still under Commission assessment.
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Member States had until 31 August 2026 to complete milestones; the Commission is assessing the last 32 payment requests.
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The green transition is the largest spending area at €287 billion, which the Commission estimates will deliver annual greenhouse gas savings equal to 1.5% of EU emissions against a 2021 baseline.
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Digital transformation is the second-largest area at €140 billion, with highlights including Austria's broadband expansion and digitalised courts in Bulgaria, Malta, the Netherlands and Portugal.
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European Interest highlighted Italy's justice reform, Spain's labour market overhaul and red-tape cuts in Germany and Cyprus as structural reforms funded by the programme.
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The Commission's NextGenerationEU page says the EU expects to raise up to €634 billion by end 2026, out of a maximum envelope of €806.9 billion set in 2021.
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The Commission's Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard puts the total RRF envelope at end-August 2026 at €573 billion, of which €213 billion is loans, after ten Member States downscaled loan envelopes and €77.4 billion was decommitted.
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The European Parliament's research service, in its October 2025 report, noted that the first formal milestone reversal led to €626.6 million (€626.6 million) in grants being suspended for Spain.
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Repayment of the borrowing starts in 2028 and runs until 2058, with loans repaid by borrowing Member States and grants repaid by the EU budget, according to the Commission.