EU’s biggest-ever recovery fund faces final judgement – did it benefit citizens?

The EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility has been under close scrutiny since its launch in 2021, reflecting both its unprecedented scale and importance for Europe’s economic recovery. CEE Bankwatch Network’s work, focused on central and eastern Europe, has highlighted persistent shortcomings in transparency, public participation and stakeholder engagement, as well as concerns about the application of the ‘do no significant harm’ principle and the environmental impacts of problematic investments. Through dozens of publications and a database documenting over 150 beneficial and harmful investments across EU funding instruments, Bankwatch has documented valuable lessons for future EU spending programmes. 

As the Facility approaches closure, implementation remains highly uneven across the EU. Several Member States in central and eastern Europe – notably Hungary, Bulgaria and Poland, followed closely by Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – continue to lag behind in absorbing available funding, putting the completion of planned climate and social investments at risk. Despite unprecedented levels of EU support, tangible results remain limited in some regions, contributing to public scepticism about the effectiveness of both EU spending and the green transition. 

The pressure to meet final deadlines has also increased concerns about last-minute spending decisions, reduced reform ambition, and compromises in investment quality. Many of these challenges extend beyond the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Following the 2025 mid-term review, cohesion policy programmes – including the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Social Fund Plus – will remain key sources of investment for the rest of the decade. Across many Member States, however, large shares of available funding are still awaiting allocation, while implementation of priorities such as energy efficiency, the just transition and territorial development remains slow. 

The phase-out of the Recovery and Resilience Facility places additional pressure on cohesion policy funds to address energy poverty and support vulnerable households until national social climate plans become operational. However, this applies only to countries that have transposed the rules for the new EU emissions trading system for buildings and road transport (ETS2), with several Member States yet to do so. This makes the coming years a critical period for ensuring effective coordination between energy, housing, and social and regional development policies. 

At the same time, the EU is entering a decisive phase in shaping the next Multiannual Financial Framework. As policymakers assess the results of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, its experience offers important lessons for future EU spending. While the Facility significantly increased funding for climate and green investments, concerns about governance, implementation quality, monitoring, and public participation underline the need for stronger safeguards and accountability mechanisms in future programmes. 

‘The Recovery and Resilience Facility was an unprecedented experiment in EU financing. It introduced a new “performance-based” approach that linked payments to the delivery of reforms and milestones. But the pressure to agree on and deliver targets often left little time for meaningful public participation and stakeholder engagement, with implications not only for democratic ownership, but also for the quality, speed and effectiveness of investments,’ says Bogdan-Alexandru Chelariu, Strategic Area Leader for Energy Transformation at CEE Bankwatch Network.

‘As the EU prepares its next Multiannual Financial Framework, policymakers should build on the Recovery and Resilience Facility’s achievements while addressing weaknesses in monitoring, transparency and implementation. The Facility should be seen not only as a recovery instrument, but also as a source of lessons for designing a more accountable, participatory and effective EU budget,’ says Anelia Stefanova, Recovery and Cohesion Funds Campaign Leader at CEE Bankwatch Network. 

Member States were required to complete all reforms and investments by the end of August 2026, while all remaining payments must be disbursed by 31 December 2026. At the end of the year, the temporary Recovery and Resilience Facility will officially close and any unused funds will return to the EU budget.

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