Delays in the execution of European recovery and resilience funds?

The Spanish think tank FEDEA published a report called "Monitoring the reforms and investments of the Recovery and Resilience Plan". The main conclusion is that the quality of the reforms and the pace of implementation of investments are of concern. According to the report, the pace of execution is not being agile and by July 2022 funds equivalent to 46.3% of the total amount of the plan (over 69 billion) would have been compromised, although the execution rate, meaning the payments to the final recipients of the aid or to the companies executing the investments tendered, is much lower and is estimated at 20%.

Report´s Highlights:

• On the degree of execution:
  - Deadlines for receiving and executing the funds: the report recalls that, according to the European regulation, 70% of the funds earmarked for each country must be "allocated" or "legally compromised" by the end of 2022 and the remaining 30% by December 31, 2023, at the latest. Moreover, deadline for the execution of the funds and the plan is set at August 31, 2026.
  - Scarce available information points to a slow execution that might not be completed on schedule: There is hardly any information available on the actual and final execution of the funds. With the data available, they estimate an execution rate of 27% of the budgeted funds for 2021 and 5.2% for 1H 2022.