EU To Commit €311 Billion To Economy Via Budget, Recovery Grants In 2022

The European Union’s budget, increased by an extraordinary reconstruction fund, should count on a total expenditure of 311.3 billion euros (7.9 trillion CZK) next year. It was proposed today by the European Commission, according to which the grants for member states from the unprecedented crisis package will amount to 143.5 billion euros. Another 167.8 billion will go from the EU coffers to current budget expenditures. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Brussels could approve the first national recovery plans next week, on the basis of which the countries will receive money from the fund.

The EU wants to help Member States revive their economies, which have seen a record downturn at a time of coronavirus restrictions, at unprecedented budget spending. “Our main priority is to get Europe back on track, speed up its recovery and prepare it for the future,” Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said today about the proposed level of spending.

The Commission is currently preparing the first bonds to finance the extraordinary costs. In total, it should distribute 390 billion euros this year and over the next two years under direct subsidies from the 750 billion fund, the rest being advantageous loans.

The EU executive wants the states to align investments from the fund with common EU priorities, such as mandatory shares of money spent on climate-friendly or digitization projects.

“From next week, the commission will start approving national plans for approval by the EU Council. It’s a historic step,” von der Leyen told MEPs today, referring to the first-ever joint debt agreed by EU leaders at a four-day summit last July. .

At the end of April, countries such as Germany and France submitted their first plans, whose strategies could thus be among the first approved. The Czechia submitted the plan last week as one of the last states. The commission has a maximum of two months to approve the plans, then they will be given a month to confirm them by the member states in the Council of the EU.