How to spend it right: A more democratic governance for the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. Bertelsmann Stiftung Policy Brief June 2020.

Guttenberg, Lucas and Nguyen , Thu (2020) How to spend it right: A more democratic governance for the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. Bertelsmann Stiftung Policy Brief June 2020. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) will be the core of the EU’s new Recovery Instrument to fight the economic fallout of the pandemic. Under the RRF, 310 billion euros in additional EU spending will be allocated by the European Commission to member states based on individual Recove- ry and Resilience Plans (RRPs). In this Policy Brief, we argue that the pro- posed governance to decide on the assessment of RRPs lacks democratic elements as parliaments are largely sidelined. This should be changed to ensure necessary political ownership at national and European level; to in- clude a second pair of European eyes to prevent misspending; and to avoid a roll-back of EU democracy. Therefore, we propose that the European Par- liament get a veto over the Commission decision assessing individual RRPs and allocating funds. National parliaments should also have a say in the adoption of the RRP of the respective member state.

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