No recovery without citizens: why public involvement is key to Europe’s green transformation

Report    |    20 June 2023

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Huge amounts of EU funding have recently become available through the EU budget, the NextGenerationEU recovery package and the REPowerEU investment programmes. However, investment decisions are increasingly being made behind closed doors.  

By excluding citizens from this transformative process, the EU risks funding investments that do not meet the objectives of the European Green Deal but exacerbate inequalities and compromise our collective efforts towards a green transformation.  

The report No recovery without citizens: why public involvement is key to Europe’s green transformation highlights the urgent need for citizens’ involvement in the design and implementation of EU recovery funds and reveals how a lack of public scrutiny has led to harmful investments in seven EU Member States.  

The report has been written in the frame of the Citizens Observatory for Green Deal Financing project. It brings together the direct experience of nine different civil society organisations and includes seven individual case studies providing information from the ground. 

This publication is also available in Bulgarian, Catalan, Estonian and Spanish.