Billions of euros ringfenced for Europe’s post-Covid recovery could be diverted into a raft of new fossil-fuel infrastructure projects, deals which may lock Europe into contracts for the next 20 years and risk undermining its green transition efforts.
After hours of heated discussions, in the early morning of 15 December, negotiators reforming the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) regulation, the financial leg of the EU’s €750bn post-Covid fund, came to a conclusion.
The European Parliament, EU Commission and European Council, the so-called trilogue, agreed that recovery funds could be used for Repower EU initiatives.
Unveiled in March in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and energy supply fears, Repower EU aims to “rapidly reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the ecological transition, while strengthening the resilience of the energy system at EU level”.
