Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland trail as EU recovery fund closes, Bankwatch says

12 October 2026, IntelliNews

Hungary, Bulgaria and Poland are trailing the rest of the EU in drawing on the bloc’s post-pandemic recovery fund as it enters its final phase, with Romania, Slovakia and Czechia close behind, environmental watchdog CEE Bankwatch Network said.

September 30 was the non-extendable deadline for member states to file their last payment requests under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the 577 billion EUR core of the NextGenerationEU programme launched in 2021.

CEE Bankwatch, a Prague-based network that has tracked the fund since its launch, says the scramble to meet deadlines has raised concerns about last-minute spending decisions, watered-down reforms and the quality of the investments being made.

The pressure will not ease when the RRF closes. Cohesion funds, the EU’s main regional development money for the rest of the decade, are also slow to reach the economy, Bankwatch said. Large shares are still awaiting allocation across many Member States.

Read the full article here: https://www.intellinews.com/bulgaria-hungary-poland-trail-as-eu-recovery-fund-closes-bankwatch-says-473618/