MNI BRIEF: EU To Tap Unused NGEU Loans For Energy Projects

The European Commission will soon provide guidance on how EU states can rapidly access more than EUR200 billion in unused loans under the NextGenerationEU programme to meet “new challenges” arising from the Ukraine invasion, a Commission spokesperson told MNI.

“Given the current situation, the challenges are changing and are becoming ever more pressing,” the spokesperson said. “In light of this, some member states might indeed face the need for additional investments to diversify their energy supply and become more resilient.”

Loans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility at the centre of the NextGenEU package rolled out to help the EU recover from the economic effects of the Covid pandemic would be an attractive solution for financing further reforms and investments in energy systems, the spokesperson said.

“The Commission is willing to process such loan requests as swiftly as possible to help member states implement the necessary measures on the ground as quickly as possible”.