The European Commission on Wednesday welcomed the European Parliament's (EP) adoption of the regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) which will provide €672.5 billion for member states to recover from the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Defeating the virus thanks to vaccines is essential. But we also need to help citizens, businesses and communities exit the economic crisis. The Recovery and Resilience Facility will bring €672.5 billion to do just that,” European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said.

The EP approved the regulation with 592 votes in favour, 42 against and 57 abstentions, which paves the way for the use of recovery funds from the so-called Next Generation EU instrument, which has a total budget of €750 billion.

The bulk of it, €672.5 billion, will be paid out through the Recovery and Resilience Facility. This includes €312.5 billion for grants and €360 billion for loans. Croatia is entitled to use €10.6 billion from the Next Generation EU instrument, including €5.94 billion in grants and €3.61 billion in loans from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Now that the EP has adopted the Recovery and Resilience Facility, it will now be put to the vote in the European Council within the next few days and the regulation is expected to enter into force on 18 February.

“The approval of the European Parliament paves the way for the RRF to come into force in the second half of February. Member States will then be able to officially submit their national recovery and resilience plans, which will be assessed by the Commission and adopted by the Council,” the European Commission said.

“The recovery and resilience plans set out the reforms and public investment projects that will be supported by the RRF. The Commission is already engaged in intensive dialogue with all Member States on the preparation of these plans,” they added.