Subject: Transparency of NextGenerationEU funds
The EU has a search engine for looking up public and private organisations that receive NextGenerationEU funds. The list of final beneficiaries by country is not publicly accessible, however. The only way to find out what NextGenerationEU funds a public company in a Member State receives, for instance, is by asking the country’s Ministry of Finance, which may give rise to conflicts of interest. As it stands, only around 5 000 of the 30 000 projects awarded funds can be monitored. With this in mind:
1. What is the Commission waiting for in order to develop a proper, CAP-style transparency system for how EU funds are invested?
2. Does the Commission not consider that improvements are required to the way possible complaints lodged regarding the management of funds, particularly to make it easier for MEPs to access data?
3. Can the Commission access a breakdown of data to check how NextGenerationEU funds for RTVE in Spain have been used, and if so, is it planning to make this information public?
Submitted:27.3.2024
Answer given by Mr Gentiloni on behalf of the European Commission
(28 June 2024)
1. Under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which represent the large majority of the NextGenerationEU funds, and more specifically under Article 22(2)(d) of the RRF Regulation (1), Member States are required to keep a record of final recipients of RRF funds as well as data on (sub-)contractors and beneficial owners for audit and control purposes.
In addition, as laid out in Article 25a of the RRF Regulation, Member States are required to create an easy-to-use public portal containing data on the 100 final recipients receiving the highest amount of funding for the implementation of measures under the RRF and to update such data twice per year. The data is centralised by the Commission on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard (2), and thus made available to the public, enhancing transparency on the use of RRF funds. Beyond this, the RRF Regulation does not provide any legal basis for the Commission to request and publish data on final recipients.
2. According to Article 26 of the RRF Regulation, the Commission is available to discuss with the European Parliament matters pointed out in this provision to ensure sufficient transparency and accountability.
3. While the RRF Regulation does not oblige the Member States to publish or transmit to the Commission data on all final recipients of funds, it requires that such data is collected for audit and control purposes, which can be requested and accessed by relevant bodies, including the Commission, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), and the European Court of Auditors. Please note that data obtained during investigations are not made public.
1 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32021R0241
2 ∙ ⸱ https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/disbursements.html?table=finalRecipientByCountry