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The Netherlands' National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Latest state of play

Briefing 18-12-2024

The Netherlands is set to receive €5 441.4 million, solely in grants, to implement its national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP). The plan is relatively small compared with most Member States' plans, with a value of 0.7 % of Dutch gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 (0.51 % in 2023). The original plan was awarded with €4 707.1 million from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). On 17 October 2023, the plan was amended to include an ambitious REPowerEU chapter along with other updates, allocating €734.4 million (including €280 million transferred from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve) to bolster energy resilience and sustainability and address the impact of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Further targeted amendments to the plan were approved on 5 November 2024. On 24 September 2024, the Netherlands received its first payment of €1 333 million (24.5 % of the total allocated amount) without initial pre-financing, making it one of the last Member States to receive funding under the RRF. Another four payments are contingent on further progress in implementation. The European Commission, in its 2024 country report, considers the plan's implementation to be significantly delayed owing to investment bottlenecks and labour shortages. The Council has urged the Netherlands to accelerate efforts to ensure all reforms and investments are completed by the August 2026 deadline. Devoting 54.9 % of the resources to the green transition, the Dutch plan is among the most ambitious in this field. The plan also allocates 25.6 % of the funds (excluding the REPowerEU chapter) to the digital transition, while some 14 % of the resources contributes to the REPowerEU objectives. The plan is expected to address several structural weaknesses in addition to supporting economic recovery. Ϸվ participates in interinstitutional forums for cooperation and discussion on RRF implementation, and scrutinises the Commission's work. This briefing is one in a series covering all EU Member States. Third edition. The previous edition was drafted by Magdalena Sapała with Luca Schollaert. The 'NGEU delivery' briefings are updated at key stages throughout the lifecycle of the plans.