Belgium’s Council of Ministers on Friday approved the sixth and final payment request for €1.275 billion in grants and €106 million in loans under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.
Budget Minister Vincent Van Peteghem announced the decision in a statement, saying the request marks the completion of Belgium’s post-Covid Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).
At the federal level, the final payment request includes capital for the Defence Fund, funding for Elia’s energy island, continued digitalisation of public services, modernisation of the rail network and restoration of Belgium’s marine environment.
“With this final payment request, we are bringing the Belgian recovery plan to a successful conclusion,” the minister said. He added that Belgium would secure every euro allocated to it.
Van Peteghem said the government had accelerated implementation of the plan over the past 18 months, adjusted it where necessary and introduced fallback solutions when some projects could not be completed on time.
He said this would ensure that available European funds were used as fully as possible for investment in Belgium.
Belgium’s post-pandemic recovery plan is worth more than €5.2 billion in European funding in total, including more than €5 billion in grants and €210 million in loans.
In July, the European Commission gave a positive assessment to Belgium’s fifth payment request.
Belgium had faced delays at the start of the disbursement period because its pension reform did not meet European requirements.
