During the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels (08-11 February 2021), Parliament approved the Recovery and Resilience Facility, designed to help EU countries tackle the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The RRF represents €672.5 billion of the €750 billion Next Generation EU recovery package.Extracts from the debate (09/02), statements by Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), Siegfried MUREŞAN (EPP, RO) and Dragoș PÎSLARU (Renew, RO), co-rapporteurs and extracts from the final vote.

Brussels

statement

debate

plenary session

vote

MUREŞAN, Siegfried (EPP, RO)

GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL, Eider (S&D, ES)

PÎSLARU, Dragoş (Renew, RO)

Coronavirus outbreak (T)

Recovery plan for Europe (T)

recovery and resilience facility (T)

Establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility: extracts from the debate (09/02), statements by Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), Siegfried MUREŞAN (EPP, RO) and Dragoș PÎSLARU (Renew, RO), co-rapporteurs and extracts from the final vote

EP  President SASSOLI anouncing the result of the vote on the: Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) - adopted with 582 votes in favour, 40 against and 69 abstentions

SOUNDBITE (English), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, The recovery and Resilience Facility is a centrepiece of Europe's economic recovery plan. Next Generation EU. It is key for ensuring successful, sustainable and inclusive recovery so that Europe emerges stronger and more resilient from the crisis.

SOUNDBITE (English), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, The compromise reflects the EU ambitions on green and digital transitions. It sets a binding green target of 37 percent and binding digital target of 20 percent at the level of individual national recovery and resilience plans.

SOUNDBITE (English), Valdis DOMBROVSKIS, Executive Vice-President of the EC in charge of an Economy that works for People, designated to assume responsability for trade, The facility has been restructured in six pillars, and member states are required to provide balanced recovery and resilience plans that respond to these policy areas of European relevance. They will also help to explain how their plans contribute to implementing that European pillar of social rights on which commission will shortly present an action plan.

SOUNDBITE (English), Siegfried MURE&#536;AN (EPP, RO), Co-rapporteur, Today, we are giving the final vote on the European Recovery and Resilience Facility. 672,5 billion euros to help the people, the enterprises and the regions that were affected by the coronavirus and by the economic consequences. We call it a recovery and resilience facility. Money is to provide immediate support, but also to make sure that we strengthen ourselves in view of next crisis. The stronger we are, the less we will be affected by next crisis in the future. This is why money is there to modernize our economies, to make them greener and cleaner, to make them more digital, more innovative so that we are stronger if and when the next crisis will occur.

SOUNDBITE (English), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), Co-rapporteur, The European Parliament proposed, and the Council and the Commission have accepted, that the money goes into the following six directions. Firstly, greening. That means tackling climate change, reducing pollution, reducing CO2 emissions. Secondly, digital, making our economies more digital, thirdly, economic cohesion. This is money for the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, for the industry, for infrastructure programs, fourthly, social cohesion, money for the social categories that were particularly affected by the virus, including elderly, including women, including children who face new challenging challenges, for example, in terms of education, number five, institutional resilience. Money can be used to modernize, to enlarge existing hospitals or to build new hospitals and number six, money for youth.

SOUNDBITE (English), Siegfried MUREȘAN (EPP, RO), Co-rapporteur, Money can be used to modernize, to enlarge existing hospitals or to build new hospitals and number six, money for youth.

SOUNDBITE (English), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&amp;D, ES), Co-rapporteur, The proposal from the commission was really focussed on digital and green, which are priorities for the European Parliament. But we also wanted to focus a bit more on the social, because in the end, this pandemic has a very important and a strong impact on the social. So we want to strengthen investments in the social area, in the health care system etc.Another area that was also missed is the gender perspective, women are always hit the most by the crises and in this case, again. So we really want to have those plans with a gender perspective and to establish a methodology that really count the impact on the gender, on the decisions that we are taking.

SOUNDBITE (English), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&amp;D, ES), Co-rapporteur, Now, it's up to the member states to present their national plans, but they are already working on these, since six months maybe. And they also need to ratify the own resources system, because without this ratification, we won't be able to go on the markets and to have debt, to finance the recovery facility. So now it's in the hands of the member states.

SOUNDBITE (English), Drago&#537; P&#206;SLARU (RE, RO), Co-rapporteur, It is a lot of money that we are talking about, it is the largest ever program of the union, a moment of deep solidarity, historical moment where Europe is actually putting the resources together to, you know, come out of the crisis, but not only just recovered from the crisis, but basically raising the ambition for a stronger Europe, a Europe that would be more resilient in facing the shocks.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dragoș P&Icirc;SLARU (RE, RO), Co-rapporteur, We cannot talk about the next generation E.U. program without actually helping at the core of the reform and investment package, the next generation. So on. Myself and my group Renew Europe have actually been successful in pulling together the parliament team and promoting a special, dedicated pillar for children and youth for the next generation in the RRF. And as I was actually telling in the plenary as well, I was glad to see that with the council and the commission. We are not three different parties negotiating things. We are Team Europe and Team Europe has actually approved through this regulation that indeed children and youth will be at the center of this endeavor.