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Europaudvalget 2025
KOM (2025) 0323
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EUROPEAN

COMMISSION

Brussels, 13.6.2025

COM(2025) 323 final

2025/0171 (NLE)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION

amending Implementing Decision (EU) (ST 10159/21 INIT; ST 10159/21 ADD 1; ST

10159/21 COR 1) of 13 July 2021 on the approval of the assessment of the recovery and

resilience plan for Austria

kom (2025) 0323 - Ingen titel

2025/0171 (NLE)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION

amending Implementing Decision (EU) (ST 10159/21 INIT; ST 10159/21 ADD 1; ST

10159/21 COR 1) of 13 July 2021 on the approval of the assessment of the recovery and

resilience plan for Austria

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of

12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility

, and in particular Article

20(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Whereas:

(1)

Following the submission of the national recovery and resilience plan (‘RRP’) by

Austria on 30 April 2021, the Commission has proposed its positive assessment to the

Council. The Council approved the positive assessment by means of the Council

Implementing Decision of 13 July 2021

. That Council Implementing Decision was

amended on 9 November 2023

On 21 November 2024, Austria made a reasoned request to the Commission to make a

proposal to amend the Council Implementing Decision of 13 July 2021 in accordance

with Article 21(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241 on the grounds that the RRP is

partially no longer achievable because of objective circumstances. On that basis,

Austria has submitted an amended RRP.

The amendments to the RRP submitted by Austria because of objective circumstances

concern 18 measures.

Austria has explained that three measures have been amended to implement better

alternatives in order to achieve the original ambition of the measure. This concerns

milestone 1 and the description of measure 1.A.1. (Renewable Heating Law) under

component 1 Sustainable Recovery, milestones 111, 112 and target 113 and the

description of measure 4.A.3. (Development of the electronic mother-child pass

platform including the interfaces to the early help networks), and milestones 152 and

OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 17.

ST 10159/21 INIT, ST 10159/21 ADD 1; ST 10159/21 COR 1.

ST 14472/23 INIT; ST 14472/23 ADD 1.

(2)

Amendments based on Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2021/241

(3)

(4)

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153 and the description of measure 4.D.2. (Increase in effective retirement age) all

under component 4 Just Recovery. On this basis Austria has requested that the

description of the aforementioned measures, and the aforementioned milestones and

targets be amended. The Council Implementing Decision of 13 July 2021 should be

amended accordingly.

(5)

Austria has explained that 15 measures have been amended to implement a better

alternative allowing to reduce the administrative burden, whilst still reaching the

objectives of the respective measure. This concerns milestones 22 and 23 and the

description of measure 1.B.5. (Construction of new railways and electrification of

regional railways) under component 1 Sustainable Recovery, milestone 45 under

measure 2.A.1 (Set-up of Platform Internet-infrastructure Austria (PIA) 2030) under

component 2 Digital Recovery; the description of the measure 2.C.1 (Proposed

legislation for Once Only: Amendment Business Service Portal Act) and target 61

under measure 2.C.2. (Digitalisation Fund Public Administration) under component 2

Digital Recovery, milestone 81 under measure 3.A.4 ((Digital) Research

Infrastructures) and target 89 under measure 3.B.2 (Promoting re-skilling and up-

skilling) both under component 3 Knowledge-based Recovery, targets 114, 115, 116

and the description of measure 4.A.4. (National roll-out of ‘early aid’ for socially

disadvantaged pregnant women, their young children and families), target 123 and the

description of measure 4.B.3. (Investment in climate-friendly town centres), milestone

132 of investment 4.B.4 (Investment in the implementation of Community Nursing),

milestone 140 and the description of measure 4.C.4. (Digitalisation Wave Cultural

Heritage), the description of measure 4.D.1. (Spending review focusing on green and

digital transformation) milestones 154 and 155 and the description of measure 4.D.3.

(Pension Splitting), milestone 157 and the description of measure 4.D.4 (Climate

action governance framework) and the description of measures 4.D.8. (Start-up

package) and 4.D.11 (Liberalisation of business regulations) all under component 4

Just Recovery. On this basis, Austria has requested to remove unnecessary background

information or procedural elements that do not contribute to the objectives of the

measures, to clarify that certain elements relate to the objectives or the context of the

measures, and to simplify descriptions of measures or milestones and targets that

cause an unjustified administrative burden for reaching the objectives of the respective

measures. The Council Implementing Decision of 13 July 2021 should be amended

accordingly.

The Commission considers that the reasons put forward by Austria justify the

amendment(s) pursuant to Article 21(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241, and the Council

Implementing Decision of 13 July 2021 should be amended accordingly.

19 clerical errors have been identified in the text of the Council Implementing

Decision, affecting eight milestones and targets and 22 measures under five

components. The Council Implementing Decision should be amended to correct these

clerical errors that do not reflect the content of the RRP submitted to the Commission

on 30 April 2021 as agreed between the Commission and Austria. Those clerical errors

relate to milestone 2 under measure 1.A.1 (Renewable Heating Law) under component

1 Sustainable Recovery; target 73 under measure 3.A.1 (Research, Innovation and

Technology Strategy 2030 (RTI Strategy 2030)), milestone 86 under measure 3.B.1.

(Education bonus) milestone 88 under measure 3.B.2 (Promoting re-skilling and up-

skilling; milestone 94 under measure 3.C.2. (Remedial education package) all under

component 3 Knowledge-based Recovery; milestone 136 under measure 4.C.2

(6)

Corrections of clerical errors

(7)

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(Develop a national digitalisation strategy for cultural heritage), milestone 139 under

measure 4.C.3 (Renovation of Volkskundemuseum Wien and Prater Ateliers) both

under component 4 Just Recovery; and milestone 174 under measure 5.A.2.

(Hydrogen as key technology to climate neutrality) under component 5 REPowerEU.

Further clerical errors relate to the description of the following measures: 1.C.1 Legal

framework for increasing collection rates for beverage packaging and the supply of

reusable beverage containers in retail, 1.C.4 Retrofitting of existing and construction

of new sorting facilities and 1.C.5 Promotion of the repairing of electrical and

electronic equipment (repair bonus) under component 1 Sustainable Recovery; 2.D.2

Digital investments in enterprises under component 2 Digital Recovery; 3.B.1

Education bonus and 3.C.3 Expansion of elementary education under component 3

Knowledge-based Recovery; 4.A.1 Enhancing primary health care, 4.A.2 Funding of

primary health care projects; 4.A.4 (National roll-out of ‘early aid’ for socially

disadvantaged pregnant women, their young children, and families), 4.D.5 (Eco-social

tax reform), 4.D.6 (Green Finance (Agenda)), 4.D.7 (National Financial Education

Strategy), 4.D.9 (Strengthening equity capital, 4.D.10 (Labour market: one-stop shop),

and 4.D.11 (Liberalisation of business regulations) all under component 4 Just

Recovery. Finally, seven clerical errors relate to Section 2 (Financial Support) of the

Council Implementing Decision of 13 July 2021. One of these clerical errors relates to

the correction of the name of target 48 under measure 2.A.2 (availability of Gigabit

capable access networks and creation of new symmetric Gigabit connections under

component 2 Digital Recovery) in the table for the sixth instalment, to align it with the

name of this target as specified in the Annex to the Council Implementing Decision of

13 July 2021. The other six clerical errors relate to the instalment amounts included in

Section 2 (Financial Support) of the Council Implementing Decision of 13 July 2021,

which contained a rounding error. Those corrections do not affect the implementation

of the measures concerned.

Commission’s assessment

(8)

The Commission has assessed the amended RRP against the assessment criteria laid

down in Article 19(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241.

Addressing all or a significant subset of challenges identified in country-specific

recommendations

(9)

In accordance with Article 19(3), point (b), of and Annex V, criterion 2.2, to

Regulation (EU) 2021/241, the amended RRP is expected to contribute to effectively

addressing all or a significant subset of challenges (Rating A) identified in the relevant

country-specific recommendations addressed to Austria, including fiscal aspects

thereof, or challenges identified in other relevant documents officially adopted by the

Commission in the context of the European Semester.

The amended RRP includes an extensive set of mutually reinforcing reforms and

investments that contribute to effectively addressing all or a significant subset of the

economic and social challenges outlined in the country-specific recommendations

addressed to Austria by the Council in the context of the European Semester, notably

regarding the sustainability of the pension system (CSR 2019.1.3).

As regards the main changes brought by the revision of the plan, the modification of

the reforms 4.D.2 (Increase in effective retirement age) and 4.D.3 (Reducing old-age

poverty) under component 4 Just Recovery allow Austria to better address the

sustainability of the pension system (CSR 2019.1.3). Reform 4.D.2 (Increase in

effective retirement age) is modified to adjust the first pension increase a person

(10)

(11)

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receives after retiring. Due to the exceptional period of inflation in 2022-2024, the

implementation of the reform would have had an unintended result of incentivising

earlier retirement, which is opposite to the intention to increase the effective retirement

age. After modification, the reform provides for a simplified and reduced first-time

pension increase for all persons, regardless of the month in which they retired in the

previous year. The modified reform is estimated to generate further fiscal savings

compared to the originally envisaged reform, thereby contributing to the fiscal

sustainability of the pension system. Reform 4.D.3 (Reducing old-age poverty) is

modified to include two pension measures, which both incentivise longer work lives.

The increase of the pension deferral bonus rewards people who work beyond their

statutory retirement age and is especially beneficial for women, whose statutory

retirement age is still lower than that of men, thereby contributing to a reduction in the

gender pension gap. The reform of the corridor pension aims at restricting access to

early retirement, thereby raising the effective retirement age and contributing to the

fiscal sustainability of the pension system.

(12)

The Commission considers that the amendments put forward by Austria do not affect

the positive assessment of the RRP set out in the Council Implementing Decision ST

10159/21 of 13 July 2021[ on the approval of the assessment of the RRP for Austria

regarding the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and coherence of the RRP against the

assessment criteria laid down in Article 19(3), points (a), (b), (c), (d),(da), (db), (e), (f),

(g), (h), (i), (j) and (k).

Following the positive assessment by the Commission of the amended RRP with the

finding that the RRP satisfactorily complies with the criteria for assessment set out in

Regulation (EU) 2021/241, in accordance with Article 20(2) of and Annex V to that

Regulation, the reforms and investment projects necessary for the implementation of

the amended RRP, the relevant milestones, targets and indicators, and the amount

made available from the Union for the implementation of the amended RRP in the

form of non-repayable financial support should be set out.

The estimated total costs of Austria’s amended RRP is EUR 4 187 412 730. As the

amount of the estimated total costs of the amended RRP is higher than the updated

maximum financial contribution available for Austria, the financial contribution

determined in accordance with Article 20(4), 21a(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241

allocated for Austria’s amended RRP should be equal to EUR 3 961 157 550.

Council Implementing Decision ST 10159/21 INIT, ST 10159/21 ADD 1; ST

10159/21 COR 1 of 13 July 2021 on the approval of the assessment of the RRP for

Austria should therefore be amended accordingly. For the sake of clarity, the Annex to

that Council Implementing Decision should be replaced entirely.

Positive assessment

(13)

Financial contribution

(14)

(15)

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The Council Implementing Decision of 13 July 2021 on the approval of the assessment of the

recovery and resilience plan for Austria is amended as follows:

(1) Article 1 is replaced by the following:

“Article 1

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Approval of the assessment of the RRP

The assessment of the modified RRP of Austria on the basis of the criteria provided for in

Article 19(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241 is approved. The reforms and investment projects

under the RRP, the arrangements and timetable for the monitoring and implementation of the

RRP, including the relevant milestones and targets and the additional target related to the

payment of non-repayable financial support, the relevant indicators relating to the fulfilment

of the envisaged milestones and targets, and the arrangements for providing full access by the

Commission to the underlying relevant data are set out in the Annex to this Decision.”;

(2) The Annex is replaced by the text in the Annex to this Decision.

Article 2

Addressee

This Decision is addressed to the Republic of Austria.

Done at Brussels,

For the Council

The President