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EU countries partly fail to meet Covid debt commitments

by AI | 27.Mar 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Due to Corona, the EU has taken on significant joint debt. Funds were tied to commitments that, according to a report by the European Court of Auditors, have not all been met so far.

An employee of the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK) prepares a vaccine against the corona virus SARS-CoV-2 for vaccination in a vaccination center. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa

Luxembourg (dpa) – The EU countries have so far only partially fulfilled their commitments that they made in return for joint EU debt. As the European Court of Auditors found in a report, significant structural problems in labor markets remained, even though the EU states received money from the so-called Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) in return for announced reforms. The funding pot amounts to a total of 650 billion euros.

The RRF was created in 2021 to address the economic damage of the Corona pandemic and at the same time modernize the economy. For this purpose, debts were for the first time incurred jointly on a large scale in the EU. In order to receive EU funds, member states had to commit to a number of investments and reforms, as the Court of Auditors emphasizes.

Often no evidence of tangible results

In some countries, particularly important structural problems for EU citizens have not yet been tackled, the report says. This includes, for example, the integration of vulnerable people into the labor market. (March 26)