In a letter dated September 10, 2025, the Netherlands Court of Audit informs the House of Representatives about the first impressions of a new way of financing projects with EU funds. With this method, the European Union only disburses money once it has been demonstrated that previously agreed results have been achieved.
This approach differs from the more commonly applied principle that the EU pays out money once costs are accounted for. This principle is applied, among other things, to EU support for Dutch agriculture and fisheries, social projects, and economic development. Under result financing, the EU only pays when the member state has demonstrated that the agreed results have been achieved.
The letter describes how the current recovery fund operates under result financing from Brussels. For this program, established after the COVID-19 pandemic with the official designation Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the EU has disbursed a total of €350 billion for all member states. Of this, the Netherlands has already received €2.5 billion. The cabinet still needs to demonstrate to the European Commission that the remaining €2.9 billion reserved for the Netherlands has also achieved the agreed results (set as milestones and objectives).
All EU member states will make agreements with each other and the European Commission over the next two years regarding the size of the EUs multiannual budget for the years 2028-2034 and what that money will be spent on. The Commission has indicated that it wants to use the result financing method more frequently. In the letter, the Netherlands Court of Audit points out that result financing – in addition to advantages – also has limitations.
The advantage of result financing is that there is more focus on achieving goals and milestones. Implementation costs can also be lower, but it is necessary for the control and accountability of projects by the Netherlands to be better aligned with the controls by the European Union.
Limitations are that the costs incurred remain out of sight for parliament and there is still little insight into the effects of the use of the funds (as with cost financing). Beyond the financial contribution, the added value of EU funds for the Netherlands in the recovery fund is limited, as the Netherlands has chosen existing measures for this program. This choice undermines effectiveness, as the measures would have been implemented even without EU funds.