Respecting the partnership principle in national recovery and resilience plans and ensuring good governance of spending

Subject: Respecting the partnership principle in national recovery and resilience plans and ensuring good governance of spending

Member States are asked to present their national recovery and resilience plans (NRRPs) by 30 April 2021. The Commission has committed to making these plans consistent with the objectives of the European Green Deal. It has also stressed many times that the involvement of local stakeholders such as municipal governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) in the preparation, implementation and monitoring of the NRRPs is of the utmost importance. This principle is echoed by the European Parliament and its committees.

1. Will the Commission put forward an assessment tool to ensure that the criteria of Member States’ consultations with municipal governments, NGOs and CSOs are respected?

2. Given the crucial role that strategic environmental assessments play in meeting the targets of the European Green Deal, is the Commission planning to make them mandatory in the NRRPs?

3. Achieving quality spending that would boost sustainable growth requires good governance. How will the Commission provide the accountability necessary for the EU’s biggest borrowing programme, and will it entrust the European Court of Auditors and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) with the responsibility of constantly monitoring the spending?

Answer given by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis on behalf of the European Commission (6 July 2021)

In line with the regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) (1), the Commission will assess the recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) in a transparent and equitable manner, under the criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and coherence.

While stakeholder consultation is not an assessment criterion, Member States are required to provide a summary of the conducted consultation process with the relevant national stakeholders in order to ensure transparency and ownership in the preparation of their RRPs.

As it is up to each Member State to decide how to organise the consultation process in accordance with the national legal framework, it is important to take into account the varying national approaches.

Reflecting the priorities of the European Green Deal, the RRF will contribute to the mainstreaming of climate action and environmental sustainability.

Member States need to demonstrate that no measure included in the RRPs does significant harm to environmental objectives, as set out in Article 17 of the Taxonomy Regulation (2) and more closely defined for the purposes of the RRF in the Technical guidance on the application of do no significant harm from February 2021.

The Commission assesses Member States’ monitoring, control and audit systems and whether they include credible measures to prevent, detect and correct conflicts of interest, corruption and fraud as well as avoid double funding. In addition to the controls and audits carried out by the relevant Member States authorities, the Commission will implement its own risk-based control strategy.

The European Court of Auditors, the European Anti-Fraud Office and the European Public Prosecutors Office may investigate and access relevant data at any time.

⋅1∙ Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility, OJ L 57, 18.2.2021.

⋅2∙ Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2020 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment,

OJ L 198, 22.6.2020.