The European Parliament on Tuesday approved the REACT-EU (Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe) initiative, a €47.5 billion package to mitigate the immediate effects of the corona crisis in European regions.

“The aid will be made available through the EU Structural Funds, with 37.5 billion EUR assigned for 2021 and 10 billion EUR for 2022,” it was said in the press release.

“Operations covered by REACT-EU will be eligible for funding from 1 February 2020, retroactively. The resources can be spent until the end of 2023,” the EP said.

“EU countries will be able to allocate part of the money to the European Social Fund, the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), the Youth Employment Initiative, as well as cross-border programmes (Interreg). Investments will be focused on the sectors most affected by the economic fallout of the pandemic,” it was said.

Within REACT-EU, crisis response and recovery measures implemented under two packages of coronavirus response investment initiatives (CRII and CRII+) will be continued and expanded, which will ensure smooth economic and social recovery in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Resources for REACT-EU will come from Next Generation EU, the European Union recovery instrument,” the press release said.