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  • 12-02-2021 11:28

EU/Presidency: PM sees first national recovery plans approved end-April (UPDATE)

EU/Presidency: PM sees first national recovery plans approved end-April (UPDATE)

Brussels, Feb. 12, 2021 (Lusa) - Portugal's prime minister, António Costa, said on Friday that he expected the first national recovery and resilience plans to be approved by the European Union authorities by the end of April, so allowing the release of post-pandemic recovery funds, and urged member states "to speed up" the ratification process.

"What I have received from the member states is the assurance that by the beginning of April we will all have ratified the own-resources decision," Costa said at a news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels. "I therefore believe that, with the publication next week of the document we have now signed, we are all in a position to begin formal negotiations with the [European] Commission on national plans."

"What I have received from the member states is the assurance that by the beginning of April we will all have ratified the own-resources decision," Costa said at a news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels. "I therefore believe that, with the publication next week of the document we have now signed, we are all in a position to begin formal negotiations with the [European] Commission on national plans."

Speaking as representative of Portugal's presidency of the Council of the EU, Costa said that it was committed to the "goal of, by the end of April, having the first national plans approved", so that countries can start accessing post-pandemic recovery funds.

For this to happen, he said it was "essential that member states speed up the ratification process of increasing own-resources so that the commission can quickly go to the market [to issue debt] and can start funding the national plans.

"In addition to the advance funding of thirty percent [of the EU funding mechanism], which will be possible from the publication of the regulation next week, I believe that the first member states that manage to conclude negotiations with the commission will be able to start having this funding before the end of the summer," he said, adding: "I would even say at the beginning of the summer."

Costa was in Brussels to sign the regulation of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, which was approved earlier this week by the European Parliament. The mechanism is the central pillar of the package designed to address the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the news conference, in which the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, also took part, the prime minister stressed that the EU "cannot afford to lose more time and fail its citizens" and concluded: "It is time to move forward."

The European Parliament this week approved the regulation creating the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, which will now enter into force in the second half of this month.

Member states will then be able officially to submit their national recovery and resilience plans in order to access the funds, once these plans have been assessed by the European Commission and adopted by the Council, where Portugal currently presides.

Made up of €672.5 billion in grants and loans, the Recovery and Resilience Facility is the main element of the 'Next Generation EU' recovery package agreed in 2020 by the EU to address the social and economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

So far, 19 member states have submitted their draft recovery and resilience plans to the European Commission, while six have ratified the own-resources decision - a key step to allowing the commission to issue debt to finance the post-pandemic recovery plan.

ANE/ARO // ARO.

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