Belgium received a first payment of 632 million from the European Commission’s Recovery and Resilience Facility on Tuesday. Belgium had requested 658 million, but as the European Commission has deemed reforms to the pension system to be insufficient, part of the sum requested has been frozen. The European Commission has given Belgium six months to comply with its demands regarding pension reform.
The European Commission pays Belgium 632 million euro from the recovery and Resilience Facility
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The money that has been given to Belgium is part of an EU-wide plan designed to help member states recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Belgium will receive a total of 5.264 billion euro from the European Commission. 5 billion euro of this will be in grants and 264 million euro will be in loans. The money will be used to fund 40 reforms and 119 investments, mainly in the fields of climate change and digital transition.
Of the 20 ‘milestones’ that Belgium had to meet in order to obtain the envelope, 19 had already been met when Belgium submitted its request in September 2023. The last of these concerned pension reform. Part of the money earmarked for Belgium will be frozen until Belgium improves the financial viability of its pension system. Belgium has been given one month to provide a response to the European Commission’s concerns. Belgium has 6 months to meet the Commission’s requirements.
Under the terms of Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the European Commission can reduce the amount a member state will receive if the requirements that it has set out have not been met withing 6 months.