The European Commission transferred recovery funds to a dozen European countries on Thursday, with Belgium being allocated €145.1 million.
Belgium's original 'Plan for Recovery and Resilience' was approved in 2021. However, the country submitted a revised version featuring a separate REPowerEU section, which focuses on the EU initiative of the same name aiming to accelerate European independence from Russian fossil fuels. The updated plan was approved in November 2023.
In addition to the initial €4.5 billion from the first recovery plan, Belgium anticipates €282 million in subsidies from the available REPowerEU funds. Furthermore, the Commission approved an additional €229 million from the European Brexit Fund for the recovery plan and a €264 million loan – amounting to almost €5.3 billion.
In the context of the REPowerEU section, Belgium has now received €145.1 million as an advance on the promised subsidies and loans. Every Member State has the right to receive up to 20% of these funds in advance. In the Belgian plan, REPowerEU represents €725.5 million in European funds (€510.5 million in subsidies, €215 million in loans).
Three years ago, Belgium received €770 million for the financing of its recovery plan. With the recent payments, Belgium has now received €915 million from the European recovery fund.
Hold-ups and deductions
In September last year, Belgium requested the first official payout from the fund rather than a pre-financing. However, this sum is yet to be approved by the Commission, which is waiting for certain "milestones" to be reached, including discussions on pension reform. The government hopes to complete this by spring.
The original amount of €847 million was reduced to €658.4 million due to corresponding pre-financing deducted from each instalment. In addition, the Belgian economy's strong post-pandemic performance made the higher amount unnecessary.
