Recovery and resilience plans : shaping the future of EU research, development and innovation with the support of PSF

The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is a vital part of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) and has ensured up to EUR 723.8 billion to help EU Member States emerge stronger and more resilient from the COVID-19 crisis. This includes EUR 338 billion in grants and EUR 385 billion in loans to help mitigate the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis. The central objectives of the RRF were to strengthen the EU's economic and social resilience, promote green and digital transitions, and promote sustainable growth. The RRF is an innovative policy instrument that has several distinct characteristics. First, its performance-based approach ensures payments to Member States are made when pre-defined milestones and targets (M&Ts) are met. To enable this, EU Member States adopted National Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs): RRPs are performance-based contracts that Member States use to define their priorities and strategies for spending the RRF funds through the definition of investment and reform measures and their related M&Ts. Second, the RRF also emphasised structural reforms alongside investments to ensure sustainability and the long-term impact of the mechanism. The RRF makes use of the European Semester Country-Specific Recommendations (CSRs) (specifically, the European Semester 2019 and 2020 cycles) to address structural issues in each Member State. Member States were encouraged to address a significant subset of CSRs in their plans. Research and Innovation (R&I) is a recurring element of RRPs. R&I measures are reflected through various components of "smart, sustainable and inclusive growth", "green transition" and "digital transformation" with the aim of strengthening national R&I systems, improving their functioning and increasing their performance.