Lessons learned from the RRF for a future European fiscal capacity

EU Investment Capacity Group’s third hybrid meeting on lessons learned from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Introduced in response to the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) was a historic EU initiative. By leveraging newly issued common EU debt, it provided fiscal support to help EU economies recover. Beyond crisis response, the RRF has played a crucial role in driving public investment in key sectors to advance the green and digital transitions, and in fostering structural reforms through a performance-based approach. 

Despite the success of the instrument in some of its core functions, challenges exist. The European Court of Auditors called the RRF a “missed opportunity for strategic focus in addressing the digital transition”. They recommend a clear requirement to address the main digital needs and appropriate outcome indicators for future funding schemes. Also, for the green targets, shortcomings in design and implementation were revealed. 

Considering that the European Commission has announced a performance-based approach to funding in one of the next MFF pillars, it is crucial to exchange learnings and improvements for the future budget. Therefore, the EU Investment Capacity Group – an initiative by FEPS and FES to stimulate the elaboration of policy proposals within the progressive family around the next MFF – gathered on Tuesday, 20 May 2025 at FEPS HQ in Brussels and online. 

Speakers

• Victor Negrescu, Vice President of the European Parliament and Vice President of the Party of European Socialists
• Marcos Ros Sempere, Member of the European Parliament
• Kristian Vigenin, Member of the European Parliament
• Margarida Marques, former Member of the European Parliament
• Thomas Dermine, Mayor of Charleroi, Belgium; former Belgian State Secretary
• Marco Buti, Professor, European University Institute (EUI)
• Dominika Biegon, Head of European and International Economic Policy, German Trade Union Confederation (DGB)
• Marie Hasdenteufel, Policy Officer, FES EU Office Brussels
• László Andor, Secretary General, FEPS
• Anna Kolesnichenko, Policy Analyst, FEPS

This event focused on lessons learned from the RRF based on a presentation of the upcoming policy brief “Lessons learned from the RRF for a future European fiscal capacity”, authored by Atanas Pekanov. This was followed by a discussion of related policy ideas to be incorporated in the upcoming MFF, including multi-level governance and a performance-based approach to EU funding. 

This hybrid expert meeting was by invitation only and was held under Chatham House rules. For more information regarding this event, please do not hesitate to contact Vanessa Zwisele, FEPS Project Officer (vanessa.zwisele@feps-europe.eu).