Today, the European Commission endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of Austrias second payment request for € 1.622 billion under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.
The Commission has preliminarily concluded that Austria has completed the 67 milestones and targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision for the second and third instalments.
The payment request covers significant steps in delivering 54 reforms and 13 investments benefiting Austrian citizens and businesses. Focus areas include digitalisation in public administration, health, energy, circular economy, biodiversity, sustainable mobility, pensions, skills, culture, support for growth-oriented start-ups, and carbon taxation.
Flagship measures include accelerating the decarbonisation of buildings, such as banning fossil-fuel heating systems in new buildings from 2025 and replacing over 30,000 fossil-fuel heating systems in existing structures. Additionally, a pension reform aims to enhance the sustainability of the pension system and investments in long-term care.
Next steps
The Commission has sent its preliminary assessment of Austrias compliance with the milestones and targets for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to provide its opinion. The payment to Austria can proceed following the EFCs opinion and a payment decision by the Commission.
Background
The Austrian recovery and resilience plan includes a broad range of investment and reform measures, financed by €3.961 billion in grants.
For more information on Austrias Recovery and Resilience plan, visit this page, featuring an interactive project map. Additional details are available on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard. For information on payment request processes under the RRF, consult this Q&A.
For more information
Commissions preliminary assessment of Austrias second payment request
Austrias Recovery and Resilience plan
Recovery and Resilience Facility
Recovery and Resilience Facility project map
Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard