The European Commission on November 10 issued positive preliminary assessments of the final payment requests from Estonia and Luxembourg under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU. Estonia’s final request is for 190.6 million euros and Luxembourg’s is for 59 million euros.
A positive preliminary assessment means the Commission has concluded that each country has satisfactorily completed the milestones and targets attached to its final instalment. The assessments now go to the Economic and Financial Committee, which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. Following a positive opinion, the Commission adopts a payment decision and the money is disbursed. The greenlight is therefore an approval step, not the payment itself.
For Luxembourg, the 59 million euros is the remaining balance of its national plan, which carries 241 million euros in grants in total. The Commission paid a third instalment of 92.2 million euros on October 30, bringing total funds paid to 182 million euros, or 76 percent of the allocation, and the final request covers the balance that Delano reported as still to be received. Estonia’s plan carries 953 million euros in grants in total; its fourth payment, disbursed in October, brought funds paid to about 80 percent of that allocation, and the final 190.6 million euro request closes the plan.
The facility is in its endgame. Member states were required to complete all milestones and targets by August 31, 2026, submit final payment requests by the end of September, and all payments must be made by December 31, 2026. Final assessments like these two are the mechanism by which the pandemic era recovery fund converts from a reform programme into its last disbursements.