MNI BRIEF: EU May Struggle To Spend NextGenEU Funds - ECB Blog

Nearly all countries will struggle to spend all of their Recovery and Resilience Facility funds allocated under the post-Covid NextGenerationEUprogramme, according to a European Central Bank Blog post.

Inflation, high energy prices, supply bottlenecks and problems accessing material, equipment and workers present challenges, as have limitations in administrative capacity and political hurdles in virtually all euro area countries, authors Ettore Dorrucci and Maximilian Freier wrote in a blog which comes as some EU policymakers consider diverting unused NextGenEU funds to green spending. (see MNI: EU Green Deal Seen Tapping Existing Funds, Leveraged)

“Policymakers need to step up their efforts to address these shortfalls," they said. "Past country performances in the absorption of EU funds offer a cautionary tale.”