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European Commission approves first payment for Belgium from recovery fund

by AI | 02.Jul 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The European Commission has provisionally approved an initial Belgian request for payment from the European recovery fund. The disbursement of an amount of 31 million euros has been suspended.

The European Commission suspends the payment of 31 million euros in recovery funds for Belgium. - Photo: Jens Kalaene/dpa

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The European Commission has provisionally approved a first payment request from Belgium from the European recovery fund on Tuesday. This was announced by the outgoing Secretary of State for Recovery and Strategic Investments, Thomas Dermine. The Commission does want to suspend part of the payment because the pension reform is rated insufficient.

Belgium submitted a first payment request last September for a gross amount of 974 million euros from the recovery fund. After deducting a pre-financing, it specifically concerns a transfer of 658 million euros. To claim the money, our country had to meet a series of milestones and targets, but according to the Commission, that did not fully succeed. It is not satisfied with the reform meant to improve the financial sustainability of the pension system.

According to Dermine, the Commission wants to put an amount of 31 million euros on hold for this reason. Nevertheless, the PS Secretary of State is satisfied with the progress made. “As announced, Belgium is meeting its commitments under the recovery plan and will receive almost all the expected resources,” he states. Dermine will submit a second payment request on July 19, this time for a total amount of 1 billion euros.

Belgium is entitled to a total of 5.3 billion euros in support from the European recovery fund.

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