All EU Member States have submitted their final RRF requests, and the Commission must complete the payments by the end of the year

The 27 Member States submitted their final payment requests under the Recovery and Resilience Facility by the 30 September deadline. In the last month alone, the Commission received 21 requests worth EUR 105.4 billion, linked to 1,539 milestones and targets that must now be assessed before the money can be paid.

All 27 Member States submitted their final payment requests under the Recovery and Resilience Facility to the European Commission by the 30 September deadline, marking the programme’s transition to the final evaluation and payment stage. In September, 21 of these requests were submitted, worth EUR 105.4 billion and linked to 1,539 milestones and targets, but their submission does not mean that all conditions have already been validated or that the amounts will be paid in full.

In briefAll 27 EU Member States submitted the final payment request from their recovery and resilience plans by the 30 September 2026 deadline.

In September, the Commission received 21 final requests worth EUR 105.4 billion, which together cover 1,539 milestones and targets.

Austria, Czechia, Denmark, France, Slovakia and Sweden had submitted their final requests before September.

So far, approximately EUR 450 billion has been paid from a total financial envelope of EUR 573 billion, consisting of EUR 360 billion in grants and EUR 213 billion in loans.

The Commission estimates that it will present the preliminary assessments by 20 November, while all payments for the accepted milestones and targets must be finalised by 31 December 2026.

The end of the submission period does not mean that the remaining amounts under the Recovery and Resilience Facility are automatically owed to the Member States. The Commission must examine each request separately, along with the documents through which governments seek to demonstrate that the agreed reforms and investments have been completed in accordance with the approved plans.

If the European executive considers that the milestones and targets associated with a request have been satisfactorily fulfilled, it issues a positive preliminary assessment. Before the payment decision is adopted, the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee is also requested, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the regulation governing the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

The Commission estimates that the preliminary assessments for the final requests can be presented by 20 November. The corresponding payment decisions are expected towards the end of December, and all transfers for the accepted milestones and targets must be made no later than 31 December.

The timetable is stricter than in the previous stages of the facility because the implementation period has already ended. Member States had to complete all the milestones and targets in their plans by 31 August. Requests submitted later may demonstrate what had been achieved by that deadline, but they do not extend the period in which reforms or investments could be completed to become eligible under the facility.

The 21 final requests submitted in September alone have an aggregate value of EUR 105.4 billion. They cover 1,539 milestones and targets, turning the final months of the year into a concentrated assessment period for the Commission’s services and national authorities.

Another six countries had already reached this stage before September. Austria, Czechia, Denmark, France, Slovakia and Sweden had previously submitted their final requests, so the completion of the September wave means that all 27 countries now have their final payment request in the system.

Since the facility was launched, the requests submitted by the Member States have covered the entire available allocation of EUR 573 billion. Of this amount, EUR 360 billion is in grants and EUR 213 billion is in loans. These figures describe the financial envelope covered by the requests submitted throughout the programme and do not represent the value of the final instalment requested in September.

By the beginning of October, approximately EUR 450 billion had already been paid to the Member States. The difference from the total envelope should not automatically be interpreted as an amount that will be transferred by the end of the year, since final payments depend on the assessment of the conditions associated with each request.

The facility operates on the basis of performance, rather than through the conventional reimbursement of each expenditure. Each national plan was divided into reforms and investments associated with measurable milestones and targets. Payment of an instalment is linked to their achievement, and failure to meet a condition may affect the amount that actually reaches the respective state.

The programme was created in 2021 as the main instrument of NextGenerationEU, following the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, the plans were expanded through the REPowerEU chapters, aimed in particular at diversifying energy supplies, developing renewable sources, improving energy efficiency and reducing dependence on fossil fuels from Russia.

The Commission attributes to the facility investments in energy infrastructure, digitalisation, clean technologies, administrative reforms and measures to strengthen economic and social resilience. However, a full assessment of the programme’s results is not included in the communication concerning the final requests. The European executive announced a new annual report on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility for October.

For Romania, the general communication only confirms that its final payment request was also submitted by the common deadline. The document does not specify the value of Romania’s request, the milestones included, any conditions that were not fulfilled or the amount that could actually be paid. These elements must be analysed separately from the specific documentation for Romania’s plan before drawing conclusions about the final instalment.

The closure of the submission period thus shifts the focus of the process from implementing the plans to verifying the results. By the end of the year, the Commission must determine which milestones and targets have been satisfactorily fulfilled and which payments can be made before the Recovery and Resilience Facility expires.

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