Europaudvalget 2025
KOM (2025) 0824
Offentligt
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EUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Strasbourg, 17.6.2025
COM(2025) 824 final
ANNEXES 1 to 3
ANNEXES
to the
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE
COUNCIL AND THE COURT OF AUDITORS
Annual Management and Performance Report for the EU Budget - 2024 financial year
EN
EN
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Contents
CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................................................................. 3
ANNEX 1
–
PERFORMANCE ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2024 .............................................................................................. 5
1. Performance of the EU budget ................................................................................................................................................................... 7
2. EU budget delivery in 2024 ....................................................................................................................................................................... 16
3. Horizontal policy priorities in the EU budget ................................................................................................................................... 42
4. Strategic technologies for Europe platform .................................................................................................................................... 69
ANNEX 2
–
INTERNAL CONTROL AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ..................................................................... 75
1.
2.
3.
4.
Strong tools to manage the EU budget in a complex environment ............................................................................. 77
Cost-effective controls protecting the EU budget ................................................................................................................... 92
Management assurance ........................................................................................................................................................................121
Outlook for 2025 and beyond ...........................................................................................................................................................128
ANNEX 3
–THE
RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE FACILITY UNDER NEXTGENERATIONEU ............................. 129
1.
2.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility under NextGenerationEU
–
an innovative and successful crisis
and recovery response tool .................................................................................................................................................................131
Control results confirm the satisfactory fulfilment of all milestones and targets for payments made
in 2024 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................138
3
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Annex 1
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Performance
achievements in 2024
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Annex 1
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Performance achievements in 2024
1. Performance of the EU budget
The European Union budget is at the centre of EU policy action.
Over the decades, it has helped
improve the quality of life and livelihoods of people within the EU and beyond. It drives investment in the
future: for a clean, digital and more competitive Europe. At the same time, it has provided a vital lifeline in
times of crisis: it helped to overcome a pandemic and save millions of jobs during the lockdowns, assisted
people and companies in getting through energy crises and is providing vital and reliable support for Ukraine
in the face of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified
war of aggression.
The EU budget is an essential tool to deliver on the EU’s priorities. Through its programmes, the budget
supports the EU’s internal and external policies. It creates EU added value by delivering results that would not
be achievable through uncoordinated national spending. EU programmes are tailored to unlock synergies,
catalyse private and public funding and provide a coordinated boost to the
political priorities of the von der
Leyen Commission.
Budget implementation in 2024
In 2024
the EU’s long-term
budget (the multiannual financial framework) and NextGenerationEU continued to
prove its capacity to act as the anchor of the EU’s policy response to
multiple crises
–
such as
Russia’s war of
aggression against Ukraine, the energy crisis, supply chain disruptions, unprecedented natural disasters and
humanitarian crises
–
while at the same time remaining
instrumental to the delivery of the Commission’s
priorities. To achieve this, EUR 190 billion of commitment appropriations was implemented in 2024 from the
2021-2027 EU budget to promote the
EU’s sustainability,
competitiveness and prosperity, in particular by
investing in the green and digital transition. This investment will
strengthen the resilience of the EU’s social
economy, foster job creation and help to build a fairer, more sustainable future for all Europeans.
Multiannual financial framework: 2024 EU budget commitment appropriations by budget heading
(million EUR)
Source:
European Commission.
To address urgent challenges and continue to drive the process of economic transition, the EU budget has
been boosted by the temporary instrument
NextGenerationEU.
The
Recovery and Resilience Facility
is
the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU and provides funding to EU Member States to carry out investment and
7
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Performance achievements in 2024
reforms. From 2021 to 2026, NextGenerationEU is providing
EUR 807 billion
(
1
) of funding across several
programmes and priorities, with a strong focus on the green and digital transitions.
In 2024 the
Commission disbursed EUR 110.4 billion of NextGenerationEU funds,
mostly driven by the payments
under the Recovery and Resilience Facility amounting to EUR 85.3 billion (EUR 55.9 million in grants and
EUR 29.4 billion in loans). This brought total disbursements by the end of 2024 to EUR 306.1 billion, of which
EUR 197.5 billion was in grants (55% of the total EUR 359 billion allocated for grants under the financial
envelope of the Recovery and Resilience Facility) and EUR 108.7 billion was in loans (37% of the total
EUR 291 billion allocated for loans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility envelope).
Monitoring performance
In 2024 EU programmes continued to progress in achieving their key objectives and delivering value for all EU
citizens. The progress towards the programme objectives is monitored most notably by means of
performance indicators.
The state of implementation varies across financial programmes. In their fourth year of implementation,
programmes under direct and indirect management made substantial progress towards achieving their
specific objectives. For shared management programmes, such as under the cohesion policy funds, the
implementation of the 2021-2027 programmes picked up significantly in 2024, with initial results already
becoming available.
For those indicators that could be assessed, the vast majority were considered to be on track to reach their
targets by the end of the implementation of the programmes. Detailed information at the programme level is
available in the programme performance statements, Annex 4 to this report.
Breakdown of 2021-2027 core performance indicators by progress towards targets
NB: The graph displays progress as measured by the share of the core performance indicators that are on track to meet their respective
targets. It does not include indicators for which the results do not allow an assessment at this stage.
Source:
European Commission.
During 2024, a number of the EU programmes from the previous programming period (2014-2020) continued
to be implemented and to deliver results to EU citizens. Payments totalling EUR 22.8 billion were made in
relation to these programmes in 2024. The majority of these payments were associated with cohesion policy
(including the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Social Fund). The
EU budget is fundamentally an investment-oriented budget, with a primary focus on generating long-term
value for the EU. These programmes have continued to advance towards their respective performance
targets.
At the same time, it is vitally important that the money spent actually addresses the challenges and delivers
the expected results on the ground. The table below shows examples of results from the EU budget achieved
under both the 2014-2020 and the 2021-2027 multiannual financial frameworks.
(
1
)
EUR 807 billion in current prices, EUR 750 billion in 2018 prices.
8
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Performance achievements in 2024
Examples of results achieved
Climate
(
2
)
•
45 gigawatt-hours of estimated energy efficiency savings per year from private and
public buildings
by the InvestEU programme, cohesion policy funds, the LIFE programme and
the Recovery and Resilience Facility, in the 2014-2023 period.
98 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent avoided per year, of which more than
half was through NextGenerationEU green bond investment.
Additionally, 452 million
tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent reduction are expected from the Innovation Fund projects
during the first 10 years of operations.
543 additional gigawatt-hours of renewable energy capacity was installed
by the
InvestEU programme, cohesion policy funds, the LIFE programme and the Recovery and
Resilience Facility, in the 2014-2023 period.
•
•
Digital
•
•
16.2 million additional dwellings were provided with internet access
via very-high-
capacity networks by the Recovery and Resilience Facility by the end of 2024.
5 000 terabits per second of additional capacity
were created by deployed backbone
networks, including submarine cables, by the Connecting Europe Facility by the end of 2024.
Employment
•
•
24 million individuals
were supported in obtaining skills relevant to employment and 415 000
jobs were created or maintained between 2021 and 2024 with support from the EU budget (
3
).
690 000 participants found a job (including becoming self-employed) and 1 million
people gained a qualification
thanks to the European Social Fund Plus by the end of 2024.
The performance analysis in the next section of this annex describes how EU programmes have contributed to
the political priorities of President von der Leyen. The third section of this annex, Horizontal policy priorities in
the EU budget, provides information at the EU budget level on the financing of initiatives relating to climate,
biodiversity, gender equality, the digital transition and the sustainable development goals (
4
). Lastly, Annex 4,
Programme performance statements, provides a detailed analysis of the individual programmes and their
performance, presented as a website to enhance reader friendliness.
(
2
)
(
3
)
(
4
)
Aggregated data of core performance indicators, reflecting estimated and expected impact from the EU budget
project as from 2014.
Financed by the following 2021-2027 programmes: Fiscalis; customs programme; European Maritime Fisheries and
Aquaculture Fund; Recovery and Resilience Facility; Euratom; European Social Fund Plus; Just Transition Mechanism;
Erasmus+; European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers; Creative Europe; European Solidarity
Corps; justice programme; Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund; Internal Security Fund; Horizon Europe; InvestEU;
single market programme; digital Europe programme; regional policy; European Agricultural Guarantee Fund.
As provided for in point 16(d–g) of the interinstitutional agreement for the 2021-2027 multiannual financial
framework.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Making performance information more reliable
The European Commission places great importance on the reliability of its performance information and
continually works to further improve its already
robust processes for performance reporting.
To
maintain high standards, data on core performance indicators are recorded and managed through a dedicated
SAP-based database that incorporates automatic quality control rules to strengthen data quality and
reliability. In addition, climate-related contributions from the EU budget are directly estimated using data
extracted from the Commission’s accounting system, ensuring traceability and precision.
In 2024 the Commission continued to implement and consolidate the strengthened control approach to
ensure the reliability of performance information on EU financial programmes. Commission departments
continued to report in their annual activity reports for 2024 (which are an important source of information for
this annual management and performance report) on the results of their controls, based on the specific
guidance and requirements developed
in 2023 in response to internal and external audit
recommendations. In 2024 no major shortcomings were reported with regard to the reliability of the
performance information for their respective financial programmes.
EU budget support for reforms
The EU budget supports reforms alongside investment in Member States and partner countries. While
investment finances tangible projects that promote growth and development, reforms serve as enablers,
helping enhance the impact and effectiveness of investment, and act as catalysts for change and for aligning
policies with the EU’s strategic priorities.
Within the EU, the synergy between reforms and investments is particularly embodied in the Recovery and
Resilience Facility, the performance-based instrument at the core of NextGenerationEU. The Recovery and
Resilience Facility requires Member States to submit recovery and resilience plans that combine investments
and reforms, with funding disbursed based on the achievement of predefined milestones and targets. In
addition, several EU programmes have built-in conditionalities to ensure that EU money is spent effectively
and in line with broader EU objectives. This is notably the case for the cohesion funds, which require robust
strategic and regulatory frameworks to be in place before money can flow. Where Member States need
support, the Technical Support Instrument provides tailored expertise and guidance to design and implement
complex reforms. In external action, the EU uses conditional budget support and investment facilities to
promote reforms in neighbouring and candidate countries, along with other partner countries.
Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU
The midterm evaluation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility highlighted the key role played by the
Recovery and Resilience Facility in supporting reforms in Member States. The Recovery and Resilience Facility
introduced new stimulus and financial incentives for implementing critical and long-awaited reforms, thanks
to the regulatory requirements and the novel link between reforms and investment.
Reform measures under the Recovery and Resilience Facility are distributed across its six policy pillars, with a
greater number of measures under the pillars covering growth and resilience-enhancing policies (see chart
‘Milestones
and targets per Recovery and Resilience Facility pillar associated with reforms’
below).
The pillars
represent EU priorities consistent with the Council country-specific recommendations addressed to Member
States in the context of the European semester.
Overall, the level of implementation has accelerated with the recovery and resilience plans in place. In the
four years preceding the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the share of 2016-2017 country-specific
recommendations that achieved
at least ‘some progress’ increased from 52%
after one to two years (2018
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Performance achievements in 2024
country-specific recommendation assessment), to just 58% after four to five years (2021 country-specific
recommendation assessment). In contrast, during the recovery and resilience plan implementation period, the
share of 2019-2020 country-specific recommendations
reaching at least ‘some progress’ increased from
52% in 2021 to 75% in the 2024 country-specific recommendation assessment.
The graph
‘Milestones
and targets per Recovery and Resilience Facility pillar associated with
reforms’
below
shows the number of reform milestones and targets per Recovery and Resilience Facility pillar, categorised as
‘preparatory and regulatory process’ or ‘delivery on the ground’.
The following two graphs show the
implementation status of these milestones and targets based on the same classification:
‘preparatory and
regulatory process’
(second graph) and
‘delivery on the ground’
(third graph).
Milestones and targets per Recovery and Resilience Facility pillar associated with reforms
NB: The graph shows the number of reform milestones and targets per Recovery and Resilience Facility pillar categorised as
‘preparatory
and regulatory process’
or ‘delivery on the ground’.
Source:
European Commission.
Status of milestones and targets
related to ‘preparatory and regulatory processes’
NB: The graph shows the percentage of reform milestones and targets
related to ‘preparatory and regulatory processes’,
based on their
implementation status:
‘fulfilled’, ’completed (not assessed)’
or
‘not completed’.
Source:
European Commission.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Status of milestones and targets related to ‘delivery on the ground’
NB: The graph shows the percentage of reform milestones and targets
related to ‘delivery on the ground’, based on their implementation
status: ‘fulfilled’, ’completed (not assessed)’ or ‘not completed’.
Source:
European Commission.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Cohesion funds
Under cohesion policy, the enabling conditions mechanism ensures that the necessary conditions for the
effective and efficient use of the funds are in place in a Member State and are linked to:
•
policy and strategic frameworks, to ensure that the strategic documents at the national and regional
levels that underpin investment from the funds are of high quality and in line with standards
commonly agreed by Member States at the EU level;
regulatory frameworks, to ensure that the implementation of operations co-financed by the funds
complies with the EU
acquis.
•
The progress of the fulfilment of these conditions since the programmes were adopted in 2022 is significant:
currently only 2.7% of the European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund and ESF+ allocations remain
blocked by unfulfilled enabling conditions.
Technical Support Instrument
In 2024 the Technical Support Instrument continued to support smart, sustainable and socially responsible
reforms across a wide range of policy areas while strengthening all types of administrative capacities,
especially the internal administrative mechanisms for reforms across the EU. For example, in terms of public
investment and infrastructure and as a result of a Technical Support Instrument project, Romania published
guidelines on public–private partnerships to help local and national authorities successfully launch and
implement investment projects.
Over the years, an increasing share of Technical Support Instrument projects have helped Member States
carry out reforms at the regional and local levels in line with EU priorities. In 2024 the Member States
demonstrated their interest in strengthening cooperation at the regional level through various Technical
Support Instrument projects, including support provided to 10 regions in five Member States to enhance EU
mining in regional ecosystems to support the green transition and secure mineral raw materials supply.
Furthermore, in 2024 the Technical Support Instrument helped Member States to design reforms necessary
for the implementation of their national recovery and resilience plans. Technical Support Instrument
assistance has taken the form of general support, which is horizontally applicable for the smooth
implementation of the plans, and thematic support, which targets specific reforms and investment in the
recovery and resilience plans. As an example of a successful project, the Technical Support Instrument
supported Croatia in reducing water losses by developing a national loss reduction action plan and
recommendations on how to monitor the performance of water companies.
External action
The
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance III
is designed as a performance-based instrument. This
focus on performance is particularly aimed at incentivising beneficiaries to commit to fundamental reforms.
The programme adjusts the scope of support based on the progress of each beneficiary, thereby encouraging
continued reform efforts. The performance-based approach is embedded in the annual bilateral programming
process. The assessment of performance is done as a global assessment, taking into consideration the
Commission’s annual enlargement reports, external expert assessments, the track record in implementing
ongoing measures, reporting against the indicators set under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance III
results framework and other sources.
In the case of the plan under the
Ukraine Facility,
the Council of the European Union’s implementing
decision on the approval of its assessment sets out a detailed roadmap of conditions, in the form of
qualitative and quantitative steps linked to reforms and investment. Fulfilment of these conditions can trigger
direct EU support for
Ukraine’s budget (Pillar
I of the Ukraine Facility). The plan includes 151 steps organised
around 15 sectoral chapters. For example, in relation to the fight against corruption, Ukraine increased the
13
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Performance achievements in 2024
staff of the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and passed important amendments to the
Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code; in particular, the legal framework of plea bargaining
improved significantly.
In2024 Ukraine fulfilled a total of 23 steps across several areas:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
the fight against corruption and money laundering (5 steps);
public financial management (4 steps);
energy (3 steps);
business environment (3 steps);
agri-food (2 steps);
the green transition and environmental protection (2 steps);
decentralisation and regional policy; human capital; management of state-owned assets; judicial
system (1 step each).
Regarding the
Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans,
measures undertaken through the
programme will be based on the reform agendas of each beneficiary. These agendas outline a
comprehensive, coherent and prioritised set of targeted reforms and priority investment areas for each
beneficiary. These include payment conditions that indicate satisfactory progress or completion of related
measures, along with an indicative timetable for implementation. The reforms focus on key socioeconomic
reform areas and the fundamentals of the enlargement process.
In delivering on the
Global Gateway
through
the Neighbourhood, Development and International
Cooperation Instrument
–
Global Europe,
the Commission promotes investments in the five Global
Gateway priority sectors as well as reforms that improve the investment climate in partner countries, in line
with EU priorities in each country and with due complementarity with all Team Europe stakeholders. Reforms
range from good governance (e.g. public procurement, public investment management, debt management, or
institutional reforms) to enablers for successful Global Gateway flagship investments and projects (e.g.
upgrading the regulatory framework for the production/commercialisation of solar or wind power, or for
operators in strategic transport corridors) (
5
).
Incentives for reforms are provided by the favourable financing conditions offered through the European Fund
for Sustainable Development Plus to back public or private investment, through budget support or due to
technical assistance fostering domestic capacities for reforms. In Armenia, Egypt and soon Moldova, this
effort to promote reforms is complemented by dedicated comprehensive partnerships or performance-based
facilities that condition the disbursement of payments on the achievement of agreed reform steps. In the
neighbourhood region of the EU, macrofinancial assistance financed by the Neighbourhood, Development and
International Cooperation Instrument
–
Global Europe plays an equally important role in promoting reforms.
(
5
)
For examples, see Joint communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social
Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank
–
Building sustainable international
partnerships as a Team Europe, JOIN(2024) 25 final of 2 October 2024,
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52024JC0025
and European Commission: Directorate-General for International
Partnerships,
2024 annual report on the implementation of the European Union
’
s external action instruments in
2023,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2024,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2841/776587.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Current values under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation
Instrument
–
Global Europe from the global Europe results framework:
•
•
•
•
•
20 countries supported by the EU to strengthen revenue mobilisation, public financial
management and/or budget transparency (GERF 2.19);
16 countries and cities with climate change and/or disaster risk reduction strategies developed
or under implementation (GERF 2.5);
3 countries supported by the EU to strengthen the investment climate (GERF 2.16);
215 government policies developed or revised with civil-society organisation participation
through EU support (GERF 2.29);
5 countries supported by the EU to conduct elections and/or improve their electoral process
(GERF 2.26).
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Performance achievements in 2024
2. EU budget delivery in 2024
A prosperous and competitive EU
Europe has always been a continent of industry, enterprise and innovation
…
we now need to go much faster and further to ensure competitiveness,
prosperity and fairness
(
6
).
Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
Supporting a clean, innovative and competitive industry
The EU budget has provided strong support to
the EU’s industrial sector, aiming to make it
competitive, innovative, climate neutral and clean.
This is particularly important in a context of high
energy prices brought about
by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
For example, the
REPowerEU
plan was set
up to reduce the EU’s reliance
on Russian energy and to accelerate the clean transition. By the
end of 2024, REPowerEU had provided EUR 10 billion in prefinancing to 21 Member States. Moreover,
the EU’s
Recovery and Resilience Facility funded the installation of over 106 gigawatts in additional renewable energy
capacity between 2021 and 2024 (
7
).
Moreover, the EU, by means of the Innovation Fund, has been contributing to bringing low-carbon
technologies to the market and to supporting industry in the transition to net-zero greenhouse
gas emissions.
The fund built a portfolio of 200 projects supported by a total of approximately
EUR 12 billion in grants. This targeted support helps to ensure that new solutions are available to decarbonise
hard-to-abate sectors such as cement and steel manufacturing, while also supporting the EU-based
manufacturing of low-carbon technologies from batteries to wind turbines to heat pumps.
The Innovation Fund
is also helping to finance the EU’s move towards greater
use of renewable
hydrogen.
In 2024, under the
first EU-wide renewable hydrogen auction,
with a budget of EUR 800 million
to support producers of renewable energy with a fixed payment per kilogram of certified and verified
renewable hydrogen produced, six projects, located in Finland, Norway, Portugal and Spain, signed grant
agreements. The
second auction,
with a budget of EUR 1.2 billion, opened in December 2024 and attracted 61
bids from 11 countries in the European Economic Area. The aim is to support the creation of a market for
renewable hydrogen in Europe, contributing to the replacement of fossil fuels with a carbon-neutral
alternative in heavy industry and transport.
The Modernisation Fund is another source of EU support, aimed at the modernisation of energy
systems, along with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in industry and the energy and
transport sectors.
In 2024 the fund provided a total of EUR 5.6 billion in support for 77 projects in
(
6
)
(
7
)
von der Leyen, U.,
‘Europe’s choice: Political guidelines for the next European Commission 2024-2029’,
18 July 2024,
https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/e6cd4328-673c-4e7a-8683-
f63ffb2cf648_en?filename=Political%20Guidelines%202024-2029_EN.pdf.
European Commission: Secretariat-General and Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs,
‘Common
indicator 2: Additional
operational capacity installed for renewable energy’,
European Commission recovery and
resilience scoreboard, 7 May 2025,
https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-
scoreboard/RRFCI02.html.
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Performance achievements in 2024
11 Member States. The total investment through the Modernisation Fund from January 2021 until December
2024 reached
EUR 15.4 billion.
Horizon Europe, the EU’s
flagship research programme, plays a pivotal role in fostering
the EU’s
competitiveness.
In 2024 about EUR 13 billion was committed under the programme. These budget
commitments to Horizon Europe in 2024 helped to support, among other things:
•
•
•
91 projects addressing sustainable food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and the
environment, with an EU contribution of over EUR 450 million (
8
);
31 projects on research infrastructure, totalling over EUR 220 million in EU contribution (
9
);
EUR 678 million in grants to support outstanding scientists and scholars as they establish their
independent research teams and develop their most promising scientific ideas (
10
).
Another instrument to support research under Horizon Europe is the European Innovation Council,
designed to help bridge the venture capital gap in Europe.
It provides funding directly to individual
companies, mainly start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises. The European Innovation Council
portfolio already comprises investment in
over 500 of Europe’s most promising start-ups
and high-growth
companies. In 2024 over EUR 500 million was invested in European Innovation Council companies for
research into new approaches to detect and treat cancer with breakthrough biotechnology and medical
technologies (
11
).
Cohesion policy also supports investments in research, innovation, digitalisation, competitiveness,
skills and digital connectivity,
with an aim of achieving a more competitive and smarter Europe,
promoting innovative and smart economic transformation. Moreover, the Interregional Innovation Investments
Instrument, under the
European Regional and Development Fund,
supports
interregional innovation
projects
in their
scale-up and commercialisation
phases. It helps overcome
regulatory and market
barriers,
bringing projects to
investment level
targeting the EU value chain.
Moreover, the EU has also been investing in the development of nuclear fusion technology.
By
investing EUR 4.6 billion over the current multiannual financial framework, the EU is financing the construction
and future operation of the ITER project, alongside its international partners, the EU leads the largest
international research project in the world. The project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion as a
carbon-free source of energy, and thus has the potential to play a decisive role in the decarbonisation of our
economies
Catalysing private investment
The InvestEU programme is a powerful driver of private investment,
focusing on guarantees for
higher-risk investment in key economic sectors, with the aim of supporting innovation and decarbonisation
along with the EU’s
long-term
competitiveness. The programme does so via multiple channels. It is
strategically
deploying public funds to de-risk and catalyse investment,
building and shaping markets
by investing in emerging technologies (e.g. space, dual-use technologies, semiconductors, the blue economy,
quantum computing), pioneering new targeted financial products and offering comprehensive advisory
(
8
)
European Commission, Horizon Europe dashboard
(
9
)
European Commission, Horizon Europe dashboard
(
10
)
European Research Council, ‘Consolidator
grants: ERC awards
€678m
in grants to back excellent research across
Europe’, European Research Council press release, 3 December 2024,
https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/news/erc-
2024-consolidator-grants-results.
11
( ) European Commission: European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency,
Scaling Deep Tech in Europe
–
European Innovation Council
–
Impact report 2025,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2826/1391424.
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services to build market and institutional capacity. The programme aims to trigger
EUR 372 billion.
By the end
of 2024,
EUR 283.4 billion (
12
) had been mobilised,
and the amount of EU guarantees provided under the
programme totalled over EUR 22 billion, covering operations such as:
•
•
EUR 30 million in counter-guarantees to help a regional German bank provide financing to small and
medium-sized enterprises focused on innovation and sustainability (
13
);
a guarantee for a EUR 200 million loan from the European Investment Bank to a European
household appliance maker aimed at the development of more energy-efficient household
appliances (
14
);
a guarantee for a EUR 30 million loan from the European Investment Bank to a Spanish start-up
aimed at the deployment of a low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation to improve internet
connectivity (
15
).
•
Cohesion policy also provides support to small and medium businesses, low carbon economy and
climate objectives, research innovation and territorial development.
Within 2021-2027
programmes, EUR 18.5 billion are committed through financial instruments for revenue generating and cost
saving investments:
•
•
•
nearly EUR 8.5 billion will be invested in SMEs in the form of loans or equity with the aim of
improving access to finance, which is still a hurdle for many start-ups and growing businesses;
EUR 1.7 billion for investments in research and innovation and EUR 417 million in digitisation;
EUR 6 billion supporting investments in energy efficiency and for renewable energy.
The EU’s
State aid rules also support the new strategic technologies for Europe platform (STEP),
in place since 1 March 2024, by allowing Member States to grant higher levels of regional aid to
investment projects covered by the platform.
In addition, the platform supports projects that foster the
skills necessary to develop critical technologies. In total, EUR 50 billion in public and private investment is
expected to benefit from coordination under STEP. More information on STEP can be found in Section 4 of this
annex.
Finally,
‘important
projects of common European interest’ are key in facilitating cross-border
industrial collaboration and building novel industries through State aid control.
In 2024 three new
projects were approved, on hydrogen and healthcare products, in addition to six existing ones. In total, the
State aid approved to be provided by Member States, along with the expected private investment into
research and development of the nine integrated projects so far,
adds up to over EUR 91 billion.
(
12
) EU Compartment only.
(
13
)
European Investment Fund, ‘EIF
supports L-Bank in offering a guarantee programme for small and medium sized
companies in Baden-Württemberg’,
European Investment Fund press release, 12
December 2024,
https://www.eif.org/InvestEU/news/2024/eif-supports-l-bank-in-offering-a-guarantee-programme-for-small-and-
medium-sized-companies-in-baden-wuerttemberg.htm.
14
( )
European Investment Bank, ‘European
household appliance maker Electrolux Group gets
€200
million EIB loan for
greener goods’,
European Investment Bank press release,
23 December 2024,
https://www.eib.org/en/press/all/2024-
525-european-household-appliance-maker-electrolux-group-gets-eur200-million-eib-loan-for-greener-goods.
15
( )
European Investment Bank, ‘Spain:
EIB finances with
€30
million Sateliot’s satellite network rollout to provide IoT
connectivity in low coverage areas’
European Investment Bank press release, 4
December 2024,
https://www.eib.org/en/press/all/2024-486-eib-finances-with-eur30-million-sateliot-s-satellite-network-rollout-to-
provide-iot-connectivity-in-low-coverage-areas.
18
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–
Performance achievements in 2024
Making business easier in the EU
The single market programme, with over EUR 600 million allocated for 2024, is the EU
funding programme to help the single market reach its full potential and ensure Europe’s
recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The programme supports the design, implementation and
enforcement of EU legislation underpinning the proper functioning of the single market for goods and
services. It helps to drive the digitalisation of services and business operations, and to facilitate
market access and international cooperation, especially in the areas of company law, contract and
extra-contractual law, anti-money laundering, free movement of capital, financial services and
competition, consumer protection and product safety. In 2024, 3032 entrepreneurs (including young,
new and female entrepreneurs, and other specific target groups) benefitted from mentoring and
mobility schemes under the Erasmus for young entrepreneurs exchange programme, financed by the
single market programme.
Strengthening European defence and security
In March 2024, the European defence industrial strategy provided a long-term vision on
reinforcing EU defence industry readiness.
This is part of the EU’s work to enhance its security, resilience
and strategic autonomy. To support concrete measures identified in the strategy, the EU proposed a
regulation on the
European defence industry programme.
With a budget of
EUR 1.5 billion
over the 2025-
2027 period, the programme
aims to strengthen the EU’s security of supply for defence equipment.
It will
also prolong and enlarge the scope of the European Defence Industry Reinforcement through Common
Procurement Act and of the Act in Support of Ammunition Production.
The European Defence Industry Reinforcement through Common Procurement Act has been
providing a key contribution to the modernisation and innovation of the EU’s defence industry.
In
2024 the Commission selected five projects through the act in critical areas: ammunition, air and missile
defence and platforms and replacement of legacy systems. Each of these five projects will receive
EUR 60 million, to support Member States to jointly procure urgent defence equipment.
Through the Act in Support of Ammunition Production, the EU is helping to increase ammunition
production.
Under the act, in 2024,
the Commission awarded grants to 31 project proposals
with a portfolio
budget of EUR 500 million to ramp up EU production capabilities in ammunition.
The European Defence Fund is
the EU’s flagship
initiative to support defence research and
development.
The fund boosts space- and defence-related efforts by actively supporting EU innovation on
key defence priorities for Member States. In 2024 the fund calls covered a wide range of critical defence
capabilities thanks to
funding awards of more than EUR 1.1 billion.
In May 2024, the Commission
awarded 61 defence industrial projects under the 2023 European Defence Fund call for proposals. Small and
medium-sized enterprises represented
42% of all entities selected, with 18% of the total funding.
19
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–
Performance achievements in 2024
European Defence Fund budget per category of action in 2024 (million EUR)
NB: SMEs = small and medium-sized enterprises.
Source:
European Commission.
In 2024 the Commission continued implementing the EU space strategy for security and defence,
and launched the European partnership for globally competitive space systems, aiming at
fostering the competitiveness of the
EU’s space industry.
In total,
EUR 100 million
of EU funding will be
allocated to the topics proposed by the partnership in the domains of satellite communication, Earth
observation and space transportation. Private partners are expected to co-invest
EUR 120 million,
mainly
through in-kind contributions.
20
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–
Performance achievements in 2024
Supporting people
If we want to lead in the industries of tomorrow
–
we need workers with
the right skills. That means investing in education, particularly in science,
technology, engineering and maths. And encouraging more girls and women into these
subjects. It also means investing in training and upskilling. The motivation and the
need for action are there
(
16
).
Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
Investing in people
The European Social Fund Plus is the EU’s main instrument for investing in people.
With a budget
allocation
of EUR 96.6 billion for 2021-2027,
the fund
provides an important contribution to the EU’s
employment, social, education and skills policies. The European Social Fund Plus brings together four funding
instruments that were separated in the 2014-2020 programming period: the European Social Fund, the Fund
for European Aid to the Most Deprived, the youth employment initiative and the European programme for
employment and social innovation. Thanks to the European Social Fund Plus, the following results were
achieved by the end of 2024:
•
•
•
690 000 people had found a job;
320 000 people were in education or training, and 1 million people had gained a qualification;
620 000 individuals received material assistance, and 2.3 million benefited from food assistance.
Moreover, to support the labour market, the EU introduced EUR 23 million in new funding through the
European Social Fund Plus for innovative projects
aimed at reducing long-term unemployment and
helping people find work (
17
). This is complemented by the
European Regional Development Fund,
which
invests EUR 22 billion in supporting a better life for people in the places that are most in need all across
Europe. Through public infrastructure development, equipment, and cross-border cooperation, ERDF supports
equal access to quality and inclusive services in employment, education and training, housing, health-, social-
and long-term care.
The EU has also been investing in people via the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for
Displaced Workers.
It is a special EU instrument, outside of the multiannual financial framework ceilings, to
assist workers or the self-employed who were displaced due to restructuring, and to help them find new jobs.
As an example, in 2024, over EUR 7.5 million from the fund were mobilised to offer support to some 1,600
workers laid off in Belgium, Denmark and Germany.
The EU has also equipped people to better face the transition towards a climate-neutral economy
via the Just Transition Mechanism.
The mechanism aims to ensure that nobody is left behind, providing
(
16
) European Commission: Directorate-General
for Communication, ‘Press
statement by President von der Leyen on the
signing of the European Social Dialogue’,
European
Commission press statement, 5 March 2025,
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_25_689.
17
( ) European Commission: Directorate-General for Communication,
The EU in 2024
–
General report on the activities of
the European Union,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025, p. 108,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/1406446.
21
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Annex 1
–
Performance achievements in 2024
targeted support to alleviate socioeconomic impacts in the most negatively affected regions. It does so by
means of the following three pillars.
•
The Just Transition Fund, which provides EU budget contributions to territorial just transition plans
implemented in all Member States. By the end of 2024, the fund was supporting 70 different plans
covering 96 territories across the EU, with EUR 10.2 billion allocated to selected projects.
The just transition scheme under the InvestEU programme, which provides a budgetary guarantee to
help mobilise private sector investment. By the end of 2024, the InvestEU Fund implementing
partners reported a total of EUR 6.76 billion of mobilised investment under the Just Transition
Mechanism.
The Public Sector Loan Facility, which combines grants financed from the EU budget with loans from
the European Investment Bank. The grant component has a total budget of EUR 1.3 billion, with a
contribution of up to EUR 8 billion from the bank. By the end of 2024, seven grant agreements
totalling more than EUR 120 million had been signed in Czechia, Greece, France and Sweden,
mobilising EUR 1.5 billion in public investment.
•
•
Fostering mutual discovery via Erasmus+
The EU budget also invested in people in 2024 by supporting mobility and cooperation in the fields
of education, training, and youth and sports via the Erasmus+ programme.
This programme, which
has a history spanning almost four decades, has been helping to nurture skills, foster cooperation and
exchange of practices among organisations, and facilitate mutual discovery across the EU. In 2024 Erasmus+
continued to support transnational learning mobility and to promote cooperation between different kinds of
organisations.
Supporting mobility opportunities for all, with a lifelong learning perspective remains the essence
and the backbone of Erasmus+.
In this regard, the programme supported 1.3 million participants (
18
),
including students, learners, professors, teachers, young people and trainers in all sectors, to participate in
mobility activities in 2023. (
19
)
Regarding its international dimension, Erasmus+ international measures have, in 2024, provided
support to around 1 200 international credit mobility projects aiming to provide opportunities to
more than 50 000 higher-education students and staff.
Through Erasmus Mundus measures, around
147 higher education institutions from 38 countries have been involved in the development of joint
international master’s degree programmes. Additionally, 2
765 Erasmus Mundus scholarships were granted to
students from more than 75 countries. Furthermore, 270 capacity-building projects were selected in 2024 to
promote cooperation among institutions and organisations engaged in higher education, vocational education
and training, and youth and sport (
20
).
Since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the Erasmus+ programme has
supported educational activities and facilitated the integration of people fleeing the war in
Ukraine.
Participating organisations have been encouraged to tailor their activities to address these
challenges effectively. In 2024 this included funding student and staff mobility, cooperation projects and the
printing of 1.5 million schoolbooks for 11-13-year-old pupils.
(
18
) The total number of people who have benefitted from Erasmus+ since its inception in 1987 exceeds 16.6 million
(including provisional data for 2024). More detailed information can be found here:
Programme level overview of
project data - Erasmus+
19
( )
Erasmus+ Annual Report 2023
(
20
) Provisional data. The Erasmus+ Annual Report 2024 is due to be published in Q4 2025.
22
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Annex 1
–
Performance achievements in 2024
Fostering solidarity through volunteering
The
European Solidarity Corps
provides young people aged between 18 and 30 years (35 in case of
humanitarian aid activities) with the opportunity to take part in volunteering and solidarity activities
either abroad or in their own country. The programme provides support to young people wishing to
engage in solidary activities in a variety of areas, from
helping the disadvantaged and delivering
humanitarian aid to contributing to health and environmental action across the EU and
beyond.
The programme focuses, via support for projects and for specific activities, on four priorities:
promoting inclusion and diversity; contributing to the green and digital transitions; contributing to
democratic participation; and contributing to EU values. In 2024, special emphasis was put on
‘fostering
positive learning experiences and outcomes for
young people with fewer opportunities’
and
‘relief
for people fleeing armed conflicts and other victims of natural or human-made
disasters’.
Examples of the impact of the programme on young people, including those with fewer opportunities,
include:
•
•
•
more than 886 000 have registered since the launch of the new-generation programme in 2021,
with almost 250 000 registrations in 2023 alone;
close to 10 000 projects have received programme grants since 2021;
more than 50% of participants in volunteering activities have been people with fewer
opportunities since 2021.
Supporting rural Europe
National plans are the basis for the implementation of the new common agricultural policy, which
has been in force since 2023.
The Commission continued to work closely with Member States to guarantee
the smooth implementation of the plans in 2024. Moreover, the Commission put forward measures to ease
the administrative burden on farmers, and proposed targeted legislative changes aimed at simplification,
while maintaining the overall orientation of the policy and its role in supporting the transition of European
agriculture to sustainable farming.
The common agricultural policy contributes broadly to the wider rural economy, especially in less-
developed regions.
It also helped to support and stabilise farm income as markets continued to be volatile
in 2024. The
policy’s
strategic plans support the socioeconomic development of rural areas by facilitating the
establishment of young and new farmers and business development, by promoting employment, business
development and basic services for rural populations, and by encouraging participatory local development
tools. By 2024, the policy achieved several milestones, such as:
•
•
around 200 000 jobs were created, with the largest contribution coming from interventions
supporting the establishment of young farmers;
over 17 million people who benefited from improved access to various services.
23
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Annex 1
–
Performance achievements in 2024
The policy also helped farmers cope with dramatic losses in production and production potential
as a result of natural disasters in 2024.
Throughout the year, EUR 233 million was provided in support to
farmers affected by natural disasters and extreme weather events in Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Estonia,
Greece, Italy, Austria, Poland, Romania and Slovenia (
21
).
Last year, the Commission also moved ahead with the implementation of the Long-term vision for
the EU’s rural areas,
in particular the EU rural action plan, for which 21 actions were on-going (including
facilitating the rural pact) and 9 completed, using funds from a variety of EU policies from and beyond the
common agricultural policy (e.g. Cohesion funds, Horizon Europe, ERASMUS +, Connecting Europe Facility,
Single market programme). This contributed to amplify rural voices of an ever-growing community, enable
networking and collaboration and encourage action from national and regional governments to improve rural
well-being.
Furthermore,
Cohesion policy supports rural development as part of its mission to reduce regional
disparities.
Cohesion policy support is wide-ranging (innovation, infrastructure, support for SMEs, renewable
energies and biodiversity conservation) and it targets predominantly less developed and transition regions.
This support is channelled through integrated territorial development strategies, including community-led
local development, designed and implemented by respective territorial authorities and local partnerships,
strengthening the economic and social fabric of rural areas.
Research and innovation supporting people
Horizon Europe is the EU’s main science programme, which
aims to promote scientific excellence
and generate new knowledge and technologies.
For 2024, a total of
over EUR 16 billion
was allocated
to the programme. Research and innovation support people by investigating, analysing and providing solutions
to current and future challenges, helping to improve people’s lives.
A key feature of Horizon Europe is the introduction of strategic plans as programming
instruments to steer research and innovation funding,
developed by the Commission together with the
Member States, associated countries and the European Parliament with input from stakeholders and
citizens (
22
). The strategic plans help to steer research and innovation funding within and beyond Europe to
tackle key global challenges such as climate change, pollution and loss of biodiversity, the digital transition
and an ageing population. The second strategic plan for the period 2025-2027 was adopted in 2024.
In 2024 grants totalling EUR 2.3 billion were awarded by the European Research Council to
projects selected based on their scientific excellence, and
the Marie Skłodowska-Curie
actions made
available over
EUR 1.25 billion
to fund cutting-edge research through excellent doctoral and postdoctoral
programmes, collaborative research and innovation projects and research fellowships, which will support and
provide jobs to about 10 000 talented researchers from all over the world at all stages of their career (
23
).
Moreover, still under Horizon Europe, the European research area talent platform was launched in
June 2024.
The platform aims to improve conditions for career development and attract and retain
researchers in Europe, providing a central hub for accessing career development, funding and international
collaboration tools, boosting mobility and career progression across Europe. Additionally, the Commission
(
21
) European Commission: Directorate-General for Communication,
The EU in 2024
–
General report on the activities of
the European Union,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025, p. 73,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/1406446.
22
( ) European Commission: Directorate-General for Communication,
The EU in 2024
–
General report on the activities of
the European Union,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025, p. 114,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/1406446.
(
23
) EU in 2024, p.114
24
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–
Performance achievements in 2024
launched the
Critical Medicines Alliance
and the
European Health Data Space,
to address respectively
industrial dimension of shortages and digital challenges related to health data protection.
The European Regional Development Funds seeks to foster a more competitive and smarter
Europe by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation.
In this context, it is crucial for
regions to have a workforce with the right set of skills to deliver this transformation successfully. The fund
thus provides targeted support for developing the specific skills needed for smart specialisation, industrial
transition and entrepreneurship Until the end of 2024, the total value of projects selected under cohesion
policy funds and the policy objective amounted to
EUR27.3billion,
including
EUR10.47billion
for
enhancing research and innovation, EUR11.88billion investments for growth and competitiveness
of small and medium-sized businesses
and
EUR253million for smart specialisation.
This investment
is, among others, expected to support over 51000 enterprises in their research and innovation activities,
around 24500 enterprises introducing new product or process innovation, almost 19600 enterprises investing
in new skills, and around 4800 start-ups.
Investing in European culture
The
Creative Europe programme
is the EU’s flagship programme to support the culture and
audiovisual sectors,
with a budget for the 2021-2027 period amounting to EUR 2.44 billion, with
EUR 344.8 million for 2024 alone. The programme is structured in three strands:
•
•
•
the culture strand, focusing on initiatives promoting and enhancing artistic cooperation at the
European level, which published 11 calls in 2024;
the media strand, aimed at encouraging competitiveness, innovation and sustainability of the
European audiovisual sector, which launched 15 calls last year;
the cross-sectoral strand, fostering innovative measures and collaboration across the audiovisual
and cultural sectors as well as support for news media, which carried out 4 calls in 2024.
Under the culture strand, new selections took place
for cultural prizes (music, literature, architecture,
heritage), for the European networks for cultural and creative organisations, and for the European platforms
for emerging artists and the pan-European cultural organisations,
totalling over EUR 85 million.
It also
provided about EUR 5 million to translate 530 books originating from 37 different original languages to 29
target languages to facilitate the circulation of European literary works.
Under the media strand, the programme awarded EUR 167 million to audiovisual projects
such as
films and television series, and the transnational distribution of content across borders and platforms. Thanks
to grants to distributors signed in 2021 under European Film Distribution, 554 films reached their audiences
across borders by 2024.
The cross-sectoral strand awarded EUR 20 million to projects
aimed at innovation (such as innovative
approaches to content creation, access and distribution), media literacy and support for the news media
sector, including support for cross-border collaborations and for funds that help media of special relevance to
democracy, such as local media in news deserts and investigative reporting.
25
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–
Performance achievements in 2024
Concrete results of the Creative Europe programme
The Creative Europe programme yielded many positive impacts in 2024, such as:
•
•
by the end of 2024, 6 366 artists and cultural professionals benefited from mobility measures;
62 grants for multiannual measures were signed in 2024 to cover the 2025-2027 period for the
European networks of cultural and creative organisations, the European platforms for emerging
artists and the pan-European cultural entities;
the 2024 Latvian film Flow, financed by the media strand, won (in 2025) both an Academy Award
and a Golden Globe.
•
In addition, by the end of 2024, the
cohesion policy funds
secured
EUR 1.8 billion of financial support
for
around 3 300 culture and sustainable tourism sites.
Improving health in the EU
The EU4health programme was adopted as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to reinforce
crisis preparedness in the EU.
The programme aims to address long-term health challenges by building
stronger, more resilient and more accessible health systems. It has been allocated EUR 4.4 billion for the
2021-2027 period, with EUR 752 million programmed for 2024. By the end of 2024, the results of the
programme included:
•
•
•
•
over 2.2 million patients with rare conditions benefited from access to diagnosis and treatment in
24 European reference networks;
21 health data access bodies set up or improved;
215 000 mpox vaccine doses donated to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention,
amid an urgent outbreak;
778 healthcare and public health professionals trained on preparedness and response to cross-
border health threats and addressing medical countermeasures.
In 2024 the EU continued to implement the EU cancer plan,
the EU’s political commitment to turn
the tide against cancer.
By 2024, 10 direct grants to Member States (six of which were awarded in 2024)
were under implementation, supporting cancer-related measures with funds provided via the EU4health
programme (
24
). The EU4health’s
programmed budget for
measures related to cancer in 2024 amounted to
EUR 115.1 million (
25
).
So far
during the current 2021-2027 programming period, the
cohesion policy funds
have contributed with
an investment of EUR 2.83 billion
to the
improved access to healthcare services
benefitting an
estimated
19.98 million people
in the EU. The total investment over the entire programming period should
amount to EUR 7.42billion benefitting the total of 59 million people.
(
24
) Commission staff working document
–
Review
of Europe’s beating cancer plan,
SWD(2025) 39 final of 4 February
2025, p. 8,
https://health.ec.europa.eu/publications/review-europes-beating-cancer-plan_en.
25
( ) Annex to the Commission Implementing Decision amending Implementing Decision C(2023) 8524 final on the
financing of the programme for the Union’s actions in the field of health (‘EU4health
programme’) and the adoption
of the work programme for 2024, C(2024) 7871 final of 15 November 2024, p. 8,
https://health.ec.europa.eu/document/download/4fb8f72b-eac7-484f-9bab-
03c945f59032_en?filename=c2024_7871_annex_en.pdf.
26
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Performance achievements in 2024
A Europe fit for the digital age
For us to be competitive, Europe must be home to the next wave of
frontier technologies
(
26
).
Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
The EU’s digital transformation
The EU has been working to ensure that society benefits from technology and innovation amid the
rapidly evolving global digital landscape.
With the
2030 digital compass
and the
Digital Decade
Policy Programme,
the EU has set a vision and framework to enhance competitiveness and technological
leadership as well as human centric digital transformation. As part of this effort, the EU is working to improve
citizens’ basic and advanced digital skills, to improve the uptake of new technologies (such as artificial
intelligence, data analytics and cloud) by EU businesses, to further advance connectivity in the EU, computing
and data infrastructure, and to make public services and administration interoperable and available online.
Digital Europe
is the main EU programme supporting the EU’s digital transformation.
It provides
funding for projects
in supercomputing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and advanced digital skills,
semiconductors and projects promoting the wider use of digital technologies and interoperability across the
economy and society. Over
EUR 1.3 billion
was allocated to this programme in 2024.
Budget commitments for the digital Europe programme (million EUR)
Source:
European Commission.
The digital Europe programme has also supported the development of the network of
cybersecurity competence centres across Europe,
which will help to build capacity and expertise in
cybersecurity and improve collaboration between Member States. The programme supports the
implementation of the EU Cybersecurity Act and the development of cybersecurity certification schemes for
ICT products, services and processes. The programme has supported the implementation of various pieces of
legislation on cybersecurity, such as the cybersecurity resilience act, the cyber solidarity act, the network and
information security directive and the cybersecurity act. The programme has also supported the deployment
of innovative cybersecurity solutions, also based on AI and other key digital technologies, paying special
attention to public authorities and SMEs. The programme has facilitated the collaboration with Member States
(
26
) European Commission: Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations,
‘Speech
by President
von der Leyen at the European Parliament Plenary on the new College of Commissioners and its programme’,
European Commission news article, 27 November 2024,
https://enlargement.ec.europa.eu/news/speech-president-
von-der-leyen-european-parliament-plenary-new-college-commissioners-and-its-2024-11-27_en.
27
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Performance achievements in 2024
to support them through the procurement of advanced cybersecurity equipment, tools and data
infrastructures such as the those building up crossborder and national cyber hubs.
Moreover, the digital Europe programme has been providing a key contribution to the
European
High-performance Computing Joint Undertaking,
which aims to develop and deploy world-class
supercomputing and data infrastructure in Europe, supporting the procurement and operation of
supercomputers, along with the development of associated applications and services.
Supercomputers under the European High-performance Computing Joint Undertaking
Computer
LUMI
Leonardo
MareNostrum 5
MeluXina
Karolina
Discoverer
Location
Kajaani,
Finland
Bologna,
Italy
Barcelona,
Spain
Bissen,
Luxembourg
Ostrava,
Czechia
Sofia,
Bulgaria
Maribor,
Slovenia
Guimarães,
Portugal
Jülich,
Germany
Applications
Artificial intelligence, especially deep learning, and traditional large-scale
simulations combined with massive-scale data analytics.
Modular and scalable computing applications and data analysis, and
interactive, urgent and cloud-computing applications
Multipurpose computer, with a special focus on medical applications,
drug discovery and digital twins (earth and human body).
Artificial intelligence, digital twins, traditional computational workloads
and quantum simulation.
Artificial intelligence, traditional computational workloads and big data.
Various applications, such as drug discovery, structure-property
predictions, material design and drug development, climate forecasting,
environmental modelling and machine learning.
Traditional computational workloads, artificial intelligence, big data and
large-scale data processing.
Traditional computational workloads, artificial intelligence and big data.
Already one of the world’s fastest supercomputers, although not all of
its modules have been assembled. Upon completion, it will tackle
demanding simulations and compute-intensive artificial intelligence
applications, such as training large neural networks like language models
in artificial intelligence, simulations for developing functional materials,
digital twins of the human heart or brain for medical purposes,
validating quantum computers and high-resolution simulations of the
climate encompassing the entire Earth system.
Vega
Deucalion
Jupiter
Source:
European High-performance Computing Joint Undertaking.
The digital Europe programme has also supported the development and deployment of advanced
digital skills
through initiatives such as the
EU skills agenda,
the
digital education action plan
and the
European Alliance for Apprenticeships,
with an aim of improving digital skills and competences for the
digital transformation. The programme is aligned with the
Digital Decade policy programme,
which sets
ambitious targets for the digital transformation of the EU by 2030, providing a framework for the EU and
Member States to work together.
Targets
include ensuring that all citizens have basic digital skills, increasing
the share of ICT specialists in the workforce and ensuring that 75% of European businesses make use of
cloud services.
28
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Performance achievements in 2024
Examples of projects funded by the digital Europe programme
The
digital Europe
programme has provided funding to several
impactful projects,
such as:
•
two
digital twins of the Earth launched in 2024, making it possible to improve the EU’s response
to major natural disasters, and helping it to adapt to climate change by simulating extreme
weather events and long-term climate change;
835
new training programmes
(bachelor’s and master’s programmes,
along with short training
courses) in highly specialised fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and robotics, with
over 20 000 students benefiting from them by the end of 2024;
26
security operation centres, including crossborder cyber hubs
established in 2024
across the EU, helping to ensure cross-border cooperation and to enhance situational awareness
of cyber threats and incidents in the EU;
the
first exascale supercomputer in Europe,
Jupiter, which gained its second module in
2024, making it already one of the fastest supercomputers in the world, even though it is running
at one twelfth of the power it will have upon its completion.
•
•
•
Research funding has also been spent to help the EU move forward with its digital
transformation.
Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for science and innovation, has been
playing a pivotal role in advancing Europe’s digital
transformation. Between 2021 and 2024, Horizon Europe
funding in digital technologies reached over EUR 11.6 billion.
Furthermore, cohesion policy allocated EUR 40 billion for the 2021-2027 period in support of digital transition
efforts across all 2030 Digital Compass vectors via national and regional programmes (
27
). In addition, by the
end of 2024,
cohesion policy funds
ensured financial support for 1.8 million dwellings and enterprises to
access very high-capacity broadband.
Investing in artificial intelligence
The EU has also been funding research and development of artificial intelligence in Europe.
Under
the digital Europe programme, the EU has allocated
EUR 2.5 billion
for investment in artificial intelligence in
the 2021-2027 period. Moreover, by the end of 2024, the digital Europe programme launched and closed two
calls for proposals targeting models for artificial intelligence and cloud-computing technologies, totalling circa
EU 55 million. In total, the EU invested over EUR 65 million in artificial intelligence in 2024 (
28
).
In May 2024, the Commission established the European Artificial Intelligence Office,
as set up in the
AI act. It is a centre for expertise in artificial intelligence that will help to support the development and use of
trustworthy artificial intelligence, and to protect against its related risks. In January 2024, the office launched
the
AI innovation package
to support artificial intelligence start-ups and small and medium-sized
enterprises through measures, initiatives, increased funding and legislative changes.
(
27
)
Cohesion policy supporting the digital transition 2021-2027 | Cohesion Open Data
(
28
) European Commission: Directorate-General for Communication,
The EU in 2024
–
General report on the activities of
the European Union,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025, p. 86,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/1406446.
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Performance achievements in 2024
AI innovation package
AI innovation package
Alliance for Language Technologies
aimed
AI factories
to develop trustworthy cutting-
at using artificial intelligence to better
edge generative AI models.
understand and use European languages.
The Citiverse European Digital
GenAI4EU initiative,
now included in the
Infrastructure Consortium
aimed at using
ApplyAI strategy, to support the development
artificial intelligence to help cities run more
of novel use cases and emerging applications.
smoothly.
The creation of Common European Data
Spaces
to give researchers and
developers access to pools of data
to train and refine AI models.
Financial support via Horizon Europe
and
the digital Europe programme,
providing
additional public and private investment of
around EUR 4 billion until 2027.
As part of the
AI continent action plan,
at least 13
artificial intelligence factories
will be
established in 2025-2026,
providing a dynamic ecosystem that fosters innovation, collaboration and
development in the field of artificial intelligence. These factories will bring together computing power, data
and talent to create cutting-edge artificial intelligence models and applications, and will foster collaboration
across the EU, by linking supercomputing centres, universities, small and medium-sized enterprises, industry
and financial stakeholders. In this context, nine new AI optimised supercomputers will be procured and
deployed across the EU in 2025/26. Over the 2021-2027
period, the Commission’s, Member States’ and
associated countries’ overall investment in supercomputing infrastructure and artificial intelligence factories
in the EU will reach EUR 10 billion.
30
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Performance achievements in 2024
Artificial intelligence factories
–
Hosting countries
Artificial intelligence factories
AIF Austria (Austria)
BRAIN++ (Bulgaria)
LUMI AIF (Finland)
AIF2 (France)
Source:
European Commission.
JAIF (Germany)
Meluxina-AI (Luxembourg)
MIMER (Sweden)
HammerHAI (Germany) PIAST AIF (Poland)
Pharos (Greece)
IT4LIA (Italy)
BSC AIF (Spain)
SLAIF (Slovenia)
Connecting Europeans: enhancing digital connectivity
The EU supports the improvement of digital connectivity through the digital strand of the
Connecting Europe Facility.
The facility has set aside
EUR 1.6 billion
to be implemented between 2021-
2027, with EUR 325 million programmed for 2024. The digital strand of the facility helps to support and
mobilise public and private investment in digital connectivity infrastructure of common European interest. In
October 2024, the
Commission published a set of calls for proposals worth EUR 323 million
under the strand
to speed up the deployment of fast, secure and sustainable advanced infrastructure, contributing to the
development of backbone connectivity, 5G networks and quantum communication, and includes:
31
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Performance achievements in 2024
•
EUR 128 million under the
‘backbone
connectivity for digital global gateways’
call for
studies and for work will support the deployment of backbone connections, mainly via submarine
and terrestrial cables;
EUR 105 million for
‘5G
large-scale
pilots’
call for smart communities and for corridors, funding
the deployment of 5G standalone infrastructure;
EUR 90 million
under the
‘European quantum communication infrastructures’
call to finance
the interconnection of national quantum communication infrastructure networks across Member
States, along with connections between the ground and space segments of these infrastructures by
deploying optical ground stations.
•
•
Still under the digital strand of the Connecting Europe Facility, the Commission signed, in December 2024,
grant agreements totalling EUR 142 million,
covering 21 projects that will upgrade or deploy new
connectivity backbone cables, including submarine cables. These projects will contribute to improving global
connections between Europe and other countries, between Member States and between Europe and its
outermost regions and overseas countries and territories.
Investing in space activities
Space operations strengthen
Europe’s resilience and are crucial to our connected economy,
including innovative services like environmental and climate monitoring, as well as for defence
and security.
Over
EUR 2.5 billion
were committed to the Union space activities in 2024 under the
EU
Space programme,
the
EU secure connectivity programme
and the space cluster of Horizon Europe. These
activities were implemented in the field of Earth observation, satellite navigation, satellite communication,
and in support of space research and innovation through six space flagships. These programmes delivered a
range of services that improved the quality of life for people across the EU.
EU space flagships
Source:
European Commission.
Copernicus,
Europe’s eyes in the sky, provides six different services,
supporting atmosphere, marine
environment and land monitoring, along with climate change policies, emergency management and security,
drawing from satellite and
in situ
(non-space) data.
Two new Copernicus Sentinel satellites
were
launched in 2024. Copernicus’s
emergency management service was instrumental in disaster response, and
was activated about 100 times throughout the year, helping to address incidents such as the floods in Spain
32
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Performance achievements in 2024
in October 2024. Moreover, there were over 320 000 registered users of the Copernicus climate change
service, all of whom had access to about 140 terabytes of quality-controlled climate data per day in 2024.
Galileo,
Europe’s global positioning and satellite navigation system, has been providing various
services since 2016.
In 2024 two dual-satellite launches added four satellites to the system, overcoming
delays caused by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the consequent unavailability of the Soyuz
launcher. By the end of 2024, Galileo had 32 satellites in orbit.
Overview of Galileo services
GOVSATCOM
is the space programme’s component focused on governmental satellite
communications.
The deployment of its system infrastructure allowed for pooling existing satellite
communication resources and sharing them with authorised European governmental actors. In 2024, the
Commission determined the locations of the
GOVSATCOM hub,
and initial services are expected by 2025,
with full operational capability expected by 2027. Building upon GOVSATCOM, and pursuing an innovative and
sustainable space policy with a focus on strengthening the EU’s sovereignty and security
with the
Union
Secure Connectivity Programme,
a significant milestone was marked with the signature of a concession
contract with the SpaceRISE consortium in December 2024. On the basis of a strong and innovative public
private partnership, the concessionaire will develop, deploy and operate the
'IRIS²' satellite constellation
(Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite).
The
Space Situational Awareness
component
(
29
),
Europe's eyes on space,
provides space surveillance
and tracking collision avoidance to an increasing number of users worldwide. Preparatory activities towards
the provision of an operational Space Weather service by 2025 were continued focusing on user needs and
impacts. In 2024, the Commission and the European External Action Service progressed with the
EU
approach on space traffic management.
(
29
) The SSA component will cover EU SST, Space Weather and Near-Earth Objects, as well as an overall strengthening of
security requirements when developing EU space systems)
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Performance achievements in 2024
A stronger Europe in the world
The world around us is changing at lightning speed. Geopolitical shifts are
shaking alliances. Decades-old certainties are crumbling. And we still have
a brutal war raging at our borders. Despite these turbulent times, this Commission has
hit the ground running
(
30
).
Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
Providing support to Ukraine
Humanitarian and financial assistance for Ukraine
The EU remains
committed to supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia’s unprovoked and
unjustified war of aggression against the country.
It is also working with Ukraine to help it on its path
towards closer alignment with the EU single market and potential EU membership.
In 2024 the EU provided substantial humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
This included, among other
things, cash assistance, civil protection aid, healthcare, emergency and winterproof shelter, medical supplies,
food, water, demining equipment and training, and education. From 2022 to 2024, the EU provided
EUR 950 million
in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and EUR 76 million to Moldova (to help it weather the
consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine)
(
31
).
Further humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in 2024 was also provided via the EU Civil Protection
Mechanism.
All 27 Member States, together with six non-EU countries, have offered in-kind assistance
through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. In 2024 over 55 000 tonnes of life-saving assistance were
deployed to Ukraine under the mechanism, covering items such as medical supplies, vehicles and energy
equipment (
32
).
The Civil Protection Mechanism also facilitated the medical evacuation of over 900 patients from
Ukraine to hospitals across the EU in 2024.
These evacuations included vulnerable paediatric patients
who
were victims of Russia’s vicious attack against the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv in July 2024
(
33
).
(
30
) European Commission: Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations,
‘Press
remarks by
President von der Leyen on the first 100 days of the 2024-2029 Commission’,
European Commission news article,
10 March 2025,
https://enlargement.ec.europa.eu/news/press-remarks-president-von-der-leyen-first-100-days-2024-
2029-commission-2025-03-10_en.
31
( ) European Commission: Directorate-General for Communication,
The EU in 2024
–
General report on the activities of
the European Union,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025, p. 15,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/1406446.
32
( ) European Commission: Directorate-General for Communication,
The EU in 2024
–
General report on the activities of
the European Union,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025, p. 16,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/1406446.
33
( ) European Commission: Directorate-General for Communication,
The EU in 2024
–
General report on the activities of
the European Union,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025, p. 17,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/1406446.
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Performance achievements in 2024
EU humanitarian support for Ukraine (per sector)
Source:
European Commission.
The EU has also been providing vital financial assistance to Ukraine, helping the country to stand
on its feet and weather the economic impacts of Russia’s aggression.
In March 2024, the
Ukraine
Facility
was launched, offering up to EUR 50 billion in stable and predictable financial support from 2024 to
2027, to bolster Ukraine’s resilience, foster its recovery and facilitate its path towards EU membership. Out of
this EUR 50 billion, EUR 33 billion will be provided as loans to Ukraine, with the funds raised on the financial
market via the
issuance of EU bonds.
Moreover, in October 2024, the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism
entered into force, implementing additional USD 50 billion loans to Ukraine under the G7 Extraordinary
Revenue Acceleration Loans initiative, leveraging revenues from immobilized Russian sovereign assets. The
EU’s contribution
to this initiative consists of an EUR 18.1 billion macrofinancial assistance loan to be
disbursed in the course of 2025.”
Military assistance for Ukraine
To address Ukraine’s pressing military and defence needs, the EU implemented
the European
Peace Facility.
Between 2022 and 2024, the EU mobilised
EUR 6.1 billion
under the European Peace
Facility, with the aim of strengthening Ukraine’s armed forces capabilities and resilience and protect the
civilian population. It finances the provision of lethal and non-lethal military supplies such as ammunition,
missiles and fuel. In March 2024, the EU decided to increase the financial ceiling of the European Peace
Facility by
EUR 5 billion, establishing a dedicated Ukraine Assistance Fund.
Together with the military
support provided by Member States, the total
EU support for the Ukrainian army is estimated at
EUR 49.6 billion.
In 2022, the EU launched the EU military assistance mission for Ukraine. It was extended
for two additional years in November 2024, with a budget allocation of nearly
EUR 409 million.
Individual,
collective and special training sessions
are delivered to Ukraine’s armed forces.
There have been
73 000
Ukrainian soldiers
trained since the launch of the mission. Moreover, in June 2024, the EU and Ukraine signed
joint commitments to support Ukraine’s long-term
security and defence.
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The EU has also been fostering innovation in the defence sector together with Ukraine.
In
September 2024, the Commission established the
European Defence Innovation Office in Kyiv,
with its
role to strengthen the cooperation between the EU and Ukrainian defence industries. The office will, among
other things, help to identify Ukrainian needs and capacities on defence innovation and facilitate joint
initiatives and cooperation between innovative and industrial stakeholders of the EU and Ukraine. The office
will also promote defence innovation activities in and with Ukraine. It will also foster joint initiatives and bring
together EU start-ups and innovators with
Ukraine’s industry and armed forces. This was an important
milestone in the advancement of the European defence industrial strategy, adopted in March 2024.
Collecting windfall profits from immobilised Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine
On 28 October 2024, the regulation establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism
and a new macro-financial assistance programme for Ukraine came into force.
The
mechanism collects windfall profits from immobilised assets of the Central Bank of Russia held by
financial institutions in the Member States and uses them to support Ukraine in repaying up to
EUR 45 billion in loans to be provided to Ukraine by the Global 7 partners. The purpose of the Global 7
initiative is to provide Ukraine with sufficient and continuous financial support to address the
immediate needs inflicted on the country by Russia’s ongoing aggression.
Restrictive measures
The EU continued to provide support to Ukraine, stepping up its sanctions on Russia in response to
its war of aggression against Ukraine.
In 2024 the EU aimed to weaken Russia’s economy further with
three robust sanctions packages, focusing on cutting access to critical technology, industrial goods and
financial services, and reducing Russia’s revenue streams, in particular
from energy. In order to increase
effectiveness and impact of the sanctions, the EU put even greater emphasis on anti-circumvention measures
in the area of trade and energy, including the targeting of the shadow fleet used by Russia to evade the oil
price cap. In parallel, the EU reinforced its cooperation and outreach to non-EU countries.
Humanitarian support for victims of conflicts outside of Europe
The EU has provided humanitarian assistance to help address several crises.
Following Russia’s
full-
scale invasion of Ukraine and the dramatic escalation of hostilities in Gaza and other ongoing conflicts, such
as in Sudan, the
United Nations
estimated that 323.4 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance
in 2024.
The EU committed EUR 237 million of humanitarian aid in 2024, along with 2 622 tonnes of
humanitarian supplies for
people in need in Gaza.
Since the terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel in
October 2023
and the country’s ensuing
response, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has drastically
worsened. In September 2024,
1.9 million people had been displaced
in Gaza, with approximatively 88 000
people injured and 40 000 deaths. As a result, 2.2 million people have been affected by the crisis, creating
massive shortages of basic necessities such as water, food and shelter. Additionally, the Gaza Strip suffered
severe damage to its public infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals. The EU Civil Protection Mechanism
was activated 10 times in 2024 to coordinate evacuations and support neighbouring countries, also working
directly from the ground.
36
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Performance achievements in 2024
EU’s humanitarian aid in
2024
EUR 956 million
EUR 665 million
Middle East and
North Africa
EUR 447 million
Asia, Latin America,
the Pacific and
the Caribbean
EUR 214 million
Ukraine, the Western
Balkans and
the Caucasus
EUR 205 million
Non-geographical
allocations
Sub-Saharan Africa
Total budget:
EUR 2.5 billion
Source:
European Commission.
The EU has also been providing humanitarian support to Syria and Lebanon, amid the
deterioration of the situation in the region.
In May 2024, the EU and its Member States
pledged
EUR 3.8 billion
in grants to Syria and the region, while 16.7 million people remained in need of
humanitarian assistance inside Syria. For Lebanon, the EU allocated an additional EUR 25 million in
humanitarian funding to provide crucial support to populations affected by the conflict between Hezbollah
and Israel, which led to large-scale displacement.
In 2024 the EU also provided lifesaving assistance to those affected by the crisis in Sudan and its
neighbouring countries.
In total, it allocated close to EUR 260 million in response to the Sudan crisis
(including over EUR 147 million in Sudan alone). Between 2023 and 2024, Sudan became the location of the
world’s largest displacement crisis, with 11.5
million internally displaced people, about 30% of the entire
population and 15% of all internally displaced people worldwide. The conflict came with massive violations of
international humanitarian law and human rights, including war crimes and likely crimes against humanity.
Overall, the EU and its Member States were the largest global providers of official development
assistance in 2024.
In addition to assisting those affected by conflicts, the EU also provides needs-based
humanitarian assistance to people hit by human-induced disasters and natural hazards, with particular
37
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Performance achievements in 2024
attention to the most vulnerable victims. In 2024 16 crises affecting 17 countries were addressed through
the
European Humanitarian Response Capacity.
Promoting international partnerships
The EU supports projects and activities across the globe in areas such as climate, energy,
transport, health, education and research, primarily via its Global Gateway strategy.
Through a mix
of public and private investment, it aims to mobilise EUR 300 billion between 2021 and 2027. In 2024 the EU
moved forward with this strategy, designed
to reinforce Europe’s position in the world.
In December 2024,
Member States endorsed
46 additional Global Gateway flagship
projects. The EU also continued implementing
the
EU Global Health strategy and the EU Gender Action Plan.
Global Gateway partnerships based on six principles
Democratic values and high
standards
Good governance and
transparency
Equal
partnerships
Green and clean
Security focused
Catalysing private sector
investment
The EU has been particularly active in support of projects and activities in Africa.
The
Africa–
Europe investment package,
representing 119 out of 264 Global Gateway projects, aims at leveraging
approximately
EUR 150 billion
of investment to bolster cooperation with African partners. In line with its
flagship initiative on manufacturing and access to vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Africa, the
EU also announced, in June 2024, a contribution of EUR 220 million to the African Vaccine Manufacturing
Accelerator, with the objective of helping to expand the manufacturing of commercially viable vaccines in
Africa.
Under the 2021-2027 financial framework, the EU finances most of its development programmes
and Global Gateway projects and investments for partner countries in Africa, Latin American and
the Caribbean, and Asia and the through the Neighbourhood, Development and International
Cooperation Instrument
–
Global Europe,
with a total initial financial envelope of around EUR 79.5 billion.
Beyond the Global Gateway, the instrument has also contributed to action in a range of areas such as
democracy, human rights, gender equality, environmental protection and economic support. For instance, since
2021, the EU has assisted almost 137 000 victims of human rights violations. Additionally, almost 1.8 million
people around the world have gained access to clean water and/or sanitation, and more than 43 000km² of
marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems have been protected or sustainably managed. Furthermore, the
EU provided targeted and tailor-made support to migration origin, transit and destination countries in the Sub-
Saharan African and Asian regions to improve migration and forced displacement governance, guided by
dedicated EU Action Plans covering the key migratory routes towards Europe, in a whole-of-route approach.
Moreover, the EU4business initiative, funded by the instrument, supported 67 000 small and medium-sized
enterprises in the Eastern Neighbourhood during 2023-2024, resulting in the creation of nearly 80 000 new jobs.
The partnership between the EU and its Member States and the Members of the Organisation of African,
Caribbean and Pacific States, the
Samoa Agreement,
entered in provisional application in January 2024 and
a total of 77 out of the 79 OACPS Member States signed the Agreement.
38
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Performance achievements in 2024
The European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus, under the Neighbourhood, Development and
International Cooperation Instrument, has been helping the EU to deliver on the Global Gateway,
including by covering a share of the risks faced by development finance partners when investing in
partner countries.
It thereby attracts additional investors, notably from the private sector. Between 2021 and
2024, the Commission made EUR 13.3 billion of guarantees available through the fund. Since 2021 the
implementation of the
‘Economic
and investment plan in the Southern Neighbourhood’ has led to the
commitment of EUR 5.7 billion of grants funded by the Neighbourhood, Development and International
Cooperation Instrument
–
Global Europe. It mobilised an estimated EUR 26.6 billion of investment through
blending grants with concessional loans in the clean energy, water and sanitation, education and digital sectors.
A highlight of 2024 was the inclusion of the Lobito Corridor as a Global Gateway flagship project.
This corridor connects Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, enhancing regional
infrastructure and economic potential. The EU committed EUR520million in grants to support growth in
climate-smart energy, agriculture and skills development. Stakeholder engagement also played a key role,
with significant involvement from businesses, civil society, women and youth, exemplified by high-level events
and partnerships across multiple African countries.
Furthermore, the Commission made significant progress in developing the Trans-Caspian
Transport Corridor in 2024.
The Global Gateway EU–Central Asia Transport Investors Forum, held in
January, convened over 600 stakeholders and secured EUR 10 billion in commitments for sustainable
transport in Central Asia, including EUR 1.47 billion from the European Investment Bank and EUR 1.5 billion
from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Additionally, the EU and Uzbekistan signed a
memorandum of understanding launching a strategic partnership on
critical raw materials.
Supporting our neighbourhood and candidates for enlargement
In light of the
current geopolitical tensions, notably Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,
the EU enlargement process entered a new phase in 2024.
In June 2024, negotiations for accession to
the EU were opened at the first intergovernmental conferences with
Moldova and Ukraine.
The Commission
started bilateral screening meetings with both countries, which must show how they plan to adopt and
implement EU rules and policies and outline plans for further alignment. Moreover, the EU recognised
Montenegro’s
progress in its accession path, although some improvements in the rule of law and the
judiciary are still needed. The EU continued its assessment of
Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia,
all of
which need to further implement key reforms in specific areas. In addition, the European Council decided to
open accession negotiations with
Bosnia and Herzegovina
in March 2024.
To foster its enlargement process, the EU adopted the
Reform and Growth Facility Regulation
in
May 2024, to help Western Balkan partners
(
34
)
reform their political, legal and economic systems
with a view to their future EU membership.
The facility is expected to provide up to
EUR 2 billion in
grants and EUR 4 billion in loans
from 2024 to 2027. In exchange, each partner must prepare a
reform
agenda.
The reform agendas of Albania, Kosovo (
35
), Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia were
approved by the Commission in October 2024, with pre-financing payments expected in the first half of 2025.
The
EU–Western Balkans Summit
was organised in December 2024, shortly after the
Berlin Process
Summit,
enhancing integration through the growth plan.
(
34
) Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
(
35
) This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion
on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
39
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Strengthening democracy
The vision of a continent united by democracy, the rule of law and respect of
fundamental freedoms will always drive our work. Because the people of
these countries deserve a future of peace, progress and prosperity. And we will make
sure that that future can be in Europe
(
36
).
Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
Promoting the rights and values of the EU
The citizens, equality, rights and values programme aims to protect and promote EU rights and
values as enshrined in the EU treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union.
The programme aims to contribute to sustaining and further developing open, rights-based,
democratic, equal and inclusive societies based on the rule of law. For 2024, EUR 219 million was allocated to
the programme, helping to finance civil-society initiatives
aimed at increasing citizens’ engagement,
supporting equality for all and advancing the protection and promotion of rights and EU values. There were 13
calls for proposals under the programme launched in 2024, with 2 865 project applications received, of which
279 were awarded funding.
The programme also supported the implementation of the European citizens’
initiative.
The
European citizens’ initiative allows citizens to call on the Commission to propose new laws. Once an initiative
has reached 1 million signatures, the Commission will decide on what action to take. In 2024 the citizens,
equality, rights and values programme provided more than EUR 2 million in funding to support the
implementation of European citizens’ initiatives. In total, 11 new initiatives were registered in 2024, covering
areas such as the protection of European agriculture, food security and water resilience, the provision of EU
financial support for the protection of women’s
reproductive health,
and the protection of consumer rights in
relation to video games.
The Commission has also continued to implement the
Conditionality Regulation.
The mechanism
provides an additional layer of protection to the EU budget, being triggered in cases when breaches of rule-
of-law principles affect or risk affecting EU financial interests. Measures under the mechanism may include,
among other things, the suspension of payments and the prohibition of entering into legal commitments. In
December 2024, the Commission decided to maintain a prohibition on new legal commitments with public
interest trusts in Hungary for EU funding implemented under direct or indirect management, as well as
suspensions of three operational programmes in shared management, aboth measures in place since 2022.
More information on this is available in Annex 2 to this report.
(
36
) European Commission: Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations,
‘Speech
by President
von der Leyen at the European Parliament Plenary on the new College of Commissioners and its programme’,
European Commission news article, 27 November 2024,
https://enlargement.ec.europa.eu/news/speech-president-
von-der-leyen-european-parliament-plenary-new-college-commissioners-and-its-2024-11-27_en.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Defending democracy
The European democracy action plan aims to build more resilient democracies across the EU by
promoting free and fair elections, strengthening media freedom and countering disinformation.
Its
measures are supported via a range of instruments, such as:
•
promoting election integrity and boosting citizen participation, civic engagement and trust in
democracy through funding from the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme, the Creative
Europe programme, the Erasmus+ programme, Horizon Europe and cohesion funds;
strengthening funding to news media organisations within the EU and beyond through the Creative
Europe programme, the digital Europe programme and the global Europe human rights and
democracy programme;
fighting disinformation with the view to promoting media literacy and helping citizens identify
disinformation through funding from the Erasmus+ programme and the European Solidarity Corps.
•
•
The EU also supports democracy via its communication campaigns,
for which EUR 109 million was
allocated in 2024. For instance, the
‘You are EU’ campaign
has helped to raise awareness about EU values
such as democracy and freedom. Moreover, anti-disinformation web pages maintained by the EU received
over 115 000 visits in 2024.
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Performance achievements in 2024
3. Horizontal policy priorities in the EU budget
This section provides information on the financing of initiatives related to the objectives of climate,
biodiversity, gender equality and sustainable development goals, as provided for in point 16(d–g) of the
interinstitutional agreement of 16 December 2020 (
37
). Information on the contribution of the EU budget to
the
Commission’s priority of promoting the digital transition is also provided.
Green budgeting
The Commission uses green budgeting to enhance the transparency of the EU funding
to support
climate and environmental objectives, in line with the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal. In March
2022, the Commission committed to further pursuing its work on green budgeting, together with the French
Presidency of the Council and several Member States.
To underscore its commitment to its climate and environmental goals, the EU has set quantitative spending
targets for its 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework and NextGenerationEU funding. In particular,
the
EU has committed to dedicating at least 30% of its multiannual financial framework and
NextGenerationEU budget to climate-relevant expenditure, and 7.5% of the 2024 annual budget
and 10% of the 2026 and 2027 annual budgets, to protecting and enhancing biodiversity.
Expected climate and biodiversity contribution (budgetary commitments) in the 2021-2027 period
(million EUR)
NB: As the same action can contribute to more than one objective, it is important to recall that horizontal priorities (e.g., climate and
biodiversity figures) cannot be summed up to avoid double counting.
Source:
European Commission.
(
37
) Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European
Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well
as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources Interinstitutional
Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the
European Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial
management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources
(OJ L 433I, 22.12.2020, ELI:
http://data.europa.eu/eli/agree_interinstit/2020/1222/oj).
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Performance achievements in 2024
The data available for the 2021-2027 period show that the
EU budget, including NextGenerationEU, is
on track to reach its 30% target for climate mainstreaming,
thanks to the strong performance of the
Recovery and Resilience Facility and the REPowerEU plan. The figures presented in this report use past
commitments for years 2021-2024 and expected commitment appropriations for 2025-2027.
For biodiversity mainstreaming, while the 2024 ambition was achieved, the 2026 and 2027
targets are projected to fall below the initial ambitions.
More details are available in the dedicated
biodiversity section below.
In line with their sectorial regulations, the Ukrainian Ukraine Facility and Western Balkans Facility contribute to
climate and biodiversity mainstreaming. The contributions included in the programme performance
statements are preliminary and will be further refined and updated in upcoming years.
It is important to note that other funds managed by the Commission also contribute to the green budget
priority, despite not being part of the multiannual financial framework, such as the Innovation Fund, the
Modernisation Fund and the Social Climate Fund. The revenues from these funds come from the EU emissions
trading system.
The amounts above are calculated based on commitment appropriations, as shown below.
•
•
For direct management, estimates are prepared by each service based on the most updated data
available. For future estimates, work programmes, sectoral targets and historical values are used.
For shared management, past and future figures are presented on the basis of the programmes and
common agricultural policy strategic plans agreed with the Member States and updated in
accordance with the annual reports.
For indirect management, the figures are based on the existing targets and agreements with
implementing partners, along with their annual reports.
Past expenditure is revised annually following a quality review conducted by Commission
departments, incorporating additional information available on the selected project.
•
•
Focus on results (
38
)
45 gigawatt-hours
of estimated energy efficiency
savings per year from private
and public buildings.
98 million tonnes of carbon
dioxide equivalent avoided
per year,
of which more than half was
through NextGenerationEU
green bond investment.
Additionally, 452 million
tonnes of carbon dioxide
reduction are expected from
the Innovation Fund over the
first 10 years of operation.
543 additional
gigawatt-hours
of renewable energy capacity
installed.
(
38
) Aggregated data of core performance indicators reflecting estimated and expected impact from the EU budget
programmes during the 2014-2024 period (contributions from the regional policy, the LIFE programme, the InvestEU
programme, the Innovation Fund and the Recovery and Resilience Facility).
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A focus on results is fundamental for green budget action and the EU budget in general.
The results
stemming from available indicators can be used to achieve more targeted spending and to improve steering
of the EU budget. It can also make the green transition more efficient by improving accountability. The latter
is also important in view of the need to contribute to multiple international commitments.
The focus on emission reductions through energy efficiency and renewable energy expansion is
crucial for achieving the EU’s climate neutrality goals and achieving the 2030 targets.
The above
results show that the EU budget is helping Member States to diversify their energy mix and gradually reduce
their reliance on fossil fuels. This results in lower energy costs and decreased emissions of greenhouse gases
and air pollutants, helping combat climate change.
Measuring the impact of NextGenerationEU investment
In November 2024 the Commission published the second impact report for NextGenerationEU green bonds,
following up on the 2023 report presented at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai. Both
reports mark a major achievement in transparency, enabling the measurement of the
concrete climate
impact of the investment
financed by NextGenerationEU green bonds.
Building on the robust EU green bond framework, the report is based on detailed analyses of the milestones
and targets for green-bond-financed investment under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. This provides the
basis for calculating their climate impact, allowing the measuring of progress on the path to a sustainable
future and ensuring a direct link between funding and climate impact. Notably, the 2024 report also takes
into account the investment supported by REPowerEU.
The analysis shows that after full implementation, NextGenerationEU
green bond investment has the
potential to avoid greenhouse gas emissions by a total of 55 million tonnes of carbon dioxide
equivalent per year
–
equivalent to 1.5% of the EU’s total emissions in 2022. This figure currently
represents approximately half of the investment financed by green bonds, meaning that future reports are
expected to provide a more complete picture of the actual climate impact. At the current early stage of
project implementation, the emissions reduction is naturally smaller. The report estimates a current annual
reduction of 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, a figure that will continue to increase as the
implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility accelerates.
EU-supported activities and the EU taxonomy for sustainable finance
For the second consecutive year, the
‘programme
performance statements’ (Annex 4 to this report) of several
key EU budget programmes include an analysis of how their supported activities relate to the EU taxonomy
for sustainable activities. This addition provides an important starting point for future analyses of how EU
spending contributes to a greener future
(
39
)
.
While the analysis of the relationship between the supported activities and the taxonomy in the Recovery and
Resilience Facility has been detailed previously in the context of NextGenerationEU green bond reporting, the
scope has been broadened to cover additional programmes that may invest in activities covered by the EU
taxonomy. This approach offers a more comprehensive view of the EU’s commitment to sustainable financing
across its various initiatives.
(
39
) Taxonomy alignment is not a prerequisite for funding.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Climate mainstreaming
Achievements
The
Horizon Europe
mission
‘100 Climate-
Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030’
aims to make
cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. It
supports 112 cities in achieving climate
neutrality and becoming smart by 2030, with a
particular focus on energy transition and the
development of renewable energy projects.
The
Ukraine Facility
contains a chapter on the
green transition and environmental protection
and other chapters also refer to green priorities.
In order to meet the steps of the plan, for
example, in 2024 Ukraine adopted a new law on
the prevention, reduction and control of industrial
pollution, an integrated national energy and
climate plan, and a new strategy for thermal
modernisation of buildings until 2050.
Under the
LIFE programme,
more than
1 400 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent
are expected to be avoided thanks to projects
awarded in 2022 and 2023 and 7 799 gigawatt-
hours per year of primary energy savings are
expected from the 2022-2023 projects.
About 2.55 million hectares of agricultural and
forest land were covered by
the common
agricultural policy
management commitments
contributing to carbon sequestration or
conservation in 2023(
40
).
(
40
) Management commitments under 2014-2022 rural development programmes.
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Performance achievements in 2024
How much do we spend?
Climate contribution in the 2021-2027 period (million EUR)
Source:
European Commission.
For the 2021-2027 period, the EU budget
–
including NextGenerationEU
–
is projected to
contribute EUR 662 billion to climate mainstreaming objectives, representing 34% of the budget
envelope, surpassing the initial target of 30%.
Additionally, through the InvestEU programme the EU
budget is expected to help mobilise over EUR 110 billion in investment to meet EU climate goals.
Using the percentage of climate spending per programme calculated for budgetary commitments,
it is possible to estimate the amount of climate-related spending at the payment level, which
currently stands at 32.6%.
On this basis, Member States contributing to the EU budget can calculate their
share of green budget contributions for the EU budget. This estimate excludes the Recovery and Resilience
Facility, as this is financed by EU bonds instead of Member State contributions.
Differentiating between climate change mitigation and adaptation expenditure
Under the interinstitutional agreement of 16 December 2020, the Commission committed to report on climate
expenditure, differentiating between climate change mitigation and adaptation, where feasible. To allow for
such reporting, an external study was commissioned to assist in developing a methodology to disaggregate
climate expenditure across these two dimensions.
The methodology was designed to avoid creating additional administrative burdens by building on the existing
system of intervention fields used under the
Common Provisions Regulation
for cohesion funds and the
Recovery and Resilience Facility. For external action programmes, existing methodologies were used, while for
the common agricultural policy, the methodology was developed as a part of a specific study commissioned
for this policy.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Climate contribution in the 2021-2024 period disaggregated by climate mitigation and
climate adaptation
Source:
European Commission. Figures
do not include the Ukraine Facility and the ‘Reform
and growth facility for the Western Balkans’.
Figures for the common agricultural policy refer only to the 2023-2024 period.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Biodiversity mainstreaming
Achievements
21 million hectares are covered by selected
projects to protect against wildfires under
cohesion policy funds.
In addition, the
Copernicus
atmosphere monitoring service uses
near-real-time observations of the location and
intensity of active wildfires to estimate the
emissions of pollutants that may impact
biodiversity in the affected areas.
176 species of which the loss is expected to be
halted or reversed thanks to
LIFE
nature and
biodiversity projects in 2022 and 2023.
915 measures contributing to
‘good
environmental status’
were selected between
2022 and 2023 under the
European
Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund.
Through the
common agricultural policy,
21%
of agricultural land was covered by management
contracts contributing to biodiversity in 2023 (
41
).
(
41
) Management commitments under 2014-2022 rural development programmes
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Performance achievements in 2024
How much do we spend?
Biodiversity contribution in the 2021-2027 period (million EUR)
Source:
European Commission.
For the 2021-2027 period, the EU budget
–
including NextGenerationEU
–
is contributing almost
EUR 113 billion, or 5.8% of the total budget, to biodiversity mainstreaming objectives. While the
ambition of allocating 7.5% of the EU budget to biodiversity in 2024 was achieved, the 10%
targets for 2026 and 2027 are projected to fall below the initial ambitions.
It is worth noting that the common agricultural policy methodology for the 2023-2027 period has a higher
level of granularity and ambition compared to the methodology used in 2014-2022, allowing for more precise
and conservative estimates compared to the past. As from the 2024 draft budget, the contribution of the
common agricultural policy to biodiversity is estimated by the Commission through the application of EU
coefficients (100%, 40% and 0%) and weighting factors (100%, 70% and 50%) that aim to reflect the
differentiated contribution of each type of intervention towards the biodiversity objectives. Furthermore, given
the design of the common agricultural policy and the cohesion policy
–
and the financial programming of the
two programmes
–
it is not possible to assign resources to specific years, as projects have a multiannual
nature that cannot be attributed to a single year. Contribution of the recently created Ukraine Facility and
Western Balkan Facility towards biodiversity objectives is currently missing and will be updated once the data
are available in the upcoming years.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Gender equality mainstreaming
In response to persistent gender gaps and intersecting inequalities, the EU has intensified efforts to make its
budget and policymaking more inclusive. Challenges such as the cost-of-living crisis, care burden disparities
and unequal access to digital and green jobs have highlighted the need for sustained investment in gender
equality.
As a result, gender mainstreaming is now embedded across major EU policies and funding programmes,
including the European Social Fund Plus, the European Regional Development Fund, the Just Transition Fund,
Horizon Europe, the common agricultural policy, and NDICI-Global Europe. These tools promote equal access
to resources, economic participation and social protection
–
particularly for women and underrepresented
groups.
Looking ahead, President von der Leyen announced a new gender equality strategy beyond 2025 as part of
her 2024 political guidelines for the 2024-2029 Commission. This upcoming strategy will build on the
progress achieved so far and address emerging challenges, ensuring that equality remains a driving force in
the EU’s future policy and budgetary
decisions.
Achievements
The
citizens, equality, rights and values
programme
supported gender equality by
funding Member States in transposing the Pay
Transparency Directive, strengthening
organisations fighting gender-based violence
through long-term projects and providing
financial support to local grassroots groups via
intermediaries. In 2024 around 25% of the
programme’s committed funds focused
primarily on promoting gender equality.
Under
Horizon Europe,
the
‘Realising
girls’ and
women’s inclusion,
representation and
empowerment’
project aims to prevent and
reverse gender inequalities across the political,
social, economic and cultural spheres by
identifying and dismantling the root causes of
gender discrimination through a multidisciplinary
approach. It involves collaboration across
several European countries and South Africa,
focusing on institutional, experiential and
symbolic dimensions to promote transformative
equality.
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Performance achievements in 2024
With EUR 3.9 million in funding, the
European
Social Fund Plus
supports a project involving
organisations from Germany, Greece, Iceland,
Italy, Portugal and Romania, which promotes a
holistic and intersectional approach to combating
homelessness among women. The project’s
objectives include empowering marginalised
women to overcome homelessness by providing
access to tailored treatment pathways,
integrating gender-specific approaches in
trauma-informed care and influencing policy
changes towards gender-sensitive and inclusive
strategies.
Thanks to the Recovery and Resilience
Facility, the centrepiece of
NextGenerationEU,
by the end of 2024,
Estonia rolled out a digital gender-pay-gap tool
for employers to provide the necessary
information about the gender pay gap, its
possible causes and solutions to address it. In
addition, Italy provided financial support to the
creation and/or growth of 700 enterprises led by
women, supporting female entrepreneurship and
strengthening women’s participation in business
activities. These crucial investments are
complemented by
structural reforms,
including
reforms to combat gender inequalities in
Portugal, to better regulate the profession of
nursing assistants in Sweden and to improve
prenatal and neonatal health screening in
Bulgaria.
Under the
Instrument for Pre-accession
Assistance,
the Commission has supported the
empowerment of women with minority
backgrounds. Specific projects such as ‘Romani
women power of change in the Western Balkans
and Türkiye’ (with an EU contribution of
EUR 1 million) and
‘EU
regional action for Roma
education: increased education support and
opportunities for Roma students in the Western
Balkans and Türkiye’ (EUR 4 million) aimed to
increase the participation of Roma women in
local decision-making and education.
Under the
Neighbourhood, Development and
International Cooperation Instrument
–
Global Europe,
the Commission funded gender
responsive investments under the Global
Gateway strategy, such as the Africa Connected
programme implemented by FINNFUND and
targeted actions to support womens’ rights, such
as the WYDE and ACT Programmes with the UN
Women. Another UNWOMEN project
‘Promoting
the Agenda on Women, Peace and Security
supported military actors in the Central African
Republic and Mozambique. The project works to
enhance women’s inclusion and integration
among military actors, and to ensure that armed
forces are better prepared to integrate a gender
perspective in the planning and conduct of
operations and activities.
How much do we spend?
In line with the 2020-2025 gender equality strategy, the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework and
NextGenerationEU
support a range of initiatives promoting women’s labour market participation, work–life
balance, care infrastructure, female entrepreneurship and gender balance in education and professions.
Dedicated funding also supports civil-society and public institutions tackling gender-based violence.
The Commission developed a methodology to track gender-related spending at the programme level, in
collaboration with the European Institute for Gender Equality
and informed by the European Court of Auditors’
2021 report on gender mainstreaming in the EU budget.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Since the 2023 financial year, the monitoring of gender expenditure has been enhanced with the inclusion of
the gender-disaggregated data available per programme in the programme performance statements (Annex 4
to the present report).
The EU budget allocation to gender equality scores, based on the aggregation of the 2024 interventions
qualifying for each score, is outlined below. In line with the methodology, a programme may qualify for one or
more gender scores based on the objectives pursued by its respective interventions.
•
•
Score 2:
interventions whose principal objective is to improve gender equality corresponded to 2.7%
of the EU budget implemented in 2024 and were included in 13 programmes.
Score 1:
interventions that have gender equality as an important and deliberate objective (but not
as the main reason for the intervention) corresponded to 16.8% of the EU budget implemented in
2024 and were included in 22 programmes.
Score 0*:
interventions that have the potential to contribute to gender equality corresponded to
15.7% of the EU budget implemented in 2024 and were included in 8 programmes.
Score 0:
interventions that do not have a significant bearing on gender equality corresponded to
64.8% of the EU budget implemented in 2024 and were included in 45 programmes.
•
•
In 2024 19.5% of the EU budget contributed to promoting gender equality (scores 2 and 1),
representing a significant increase from previous years.
This notable progress
underscores the EU’s
firm commitment to integrating gender mainstreaming into the EU budget, ensuring that budget allocations
actively support policies advancing gender equality.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Contribution to gender equality as reported in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024
NB: Each graph is based on the percentages reported at the time of the publication of the annual management and performance reports
for the 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 financial years, respectively.
Source:
European Commission.
The 2024 results reflect the progress achieved by various programmes in terms of both
implementation and reporting capacity, allowing the capture of the contribution of the EU budget
to gender equality at a more granular level.
In particular, the sustained reduction in 0* demonstrates the
ongoing efforts to refine budget assessments and enhance gender-focused allocations. A key example in
2024 is the common agricultural policy. Following a reassessment of the measures financed by the policy
that include a focus on gender equality, in 2024 the EU budget commitments for this programme from 2021
to 2024 were assigned scores of 1 and 0, from the previous 0* score. This adjustment reflects a more
accurate recognition of
the policy’s
gender-relevant components and highlights
the EU’s ongoing efforts to
improve how gender considerations are measured within its financial programmes.
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Performance achievements in 2024
In concrete terms, the EU allocated overall EUR 38 billion to projects promoting gender equality in
2024 (gender scores 2 and 1).
This figure is lower than the EUR 48 billion reported for 2023, mainly due to
the phasing out of the Recovery and Resilience Facility commitments in 2024, which accounted for
EUR 8.4 billion under scores 1 and 2 in 2023. While the total expenditure supporting gender equality is lower
in 2024, the proportion of funding directed towards gender equality increased.
Contribution to gender scores 1 and 2 for 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 (million EUR)
NB: Based on the amounts reported in the annual management performance reports for the 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 financial years,
respectively.
Source:
European Commission.
It is important to note that in 2024, the Ukraine Facility and the Western Balkan Facility entered into force.
Given the recent start of their operations, only beginning in the second half of 2024, budgetary commitments
under both programmes were attributed a gender score of 0*. Excluding these programmes, the share of the
EU budget contributing to gender equality would have shown a further increase to 21.5% in 2024, compared
to the reported 19.5%, whereas 0* would have shown a decrease to 6.6%, compared to the reported 15.7%.
2021-2024 aggregate results
Past expenditure is revised annually through a quality review conducted by the Commission departments,
incorporating additional information available on the selected projects. This is particularly the case for
measures that were assigned a gender score of 0* in previous years. In this context, the reassessment
concluded that, over the 2021-2024 period, a total of 12% of the EU budget expenditure contributed to the
promotion of gender (gender scores 1 and 2), amounting to a significant EUR 158.4 billion over these four
years.
At the same time, the share of EU budget under gender score 0* has steadily declined and now
stands at just 5% for the four-year period
(
42
). This reflects the effectiveness of the Commission’s
ongoing reassessment efforts, which have contributed to a more precise and clearer understanding of the EU
(
42
) 4% without taking into account the Ukraine Facility and the Western Balkan Facility, which were temporarily
attributed a 0* give their recent creation.
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Performance achievements in 2024
budget support for gender equality. For the 2021-2024 period, 83% of allocations were assigned a score of
0, due to the systematic reassessment of 0* expenditure from 2021 to 2024.
The financial commitments made over this four-year period had a tangible impact across various domains,
including employment, social protection and economic empowerment, reinforcing the EU’s role as a global
leader in gender equality financing.
Gender scores as a percentage of the total EU budget (2021-2024)
NB: These percentages include the revised figures for 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 following the reassessment of score 0* and were
aggregated to calculate the overall percentages of the gender scores over the 2021-2024 period.
Source:
European Commission.
Gender-disaggregated data
This year, for the second time, the programme performance statements (Annex 4 to this report), which provide
detailed performance information at the programme level, were enhanced to include the relevant gender-
disaggregated information available for each programme. This includes a wide array of gender-disaggregated
data aimed at improving the monitoring of the performance of the programme in relation to gender equality.
For some programmes, particularly those under shared and indirect management, the availability of gender-
disaggregated data is constrained by the programme regulations and the implementation agreements.
Looking ahead to the post-2027 multiannual financial framework, the co-legislators have agreed to include in
the Financial Regulation (
43
) a requirement to ensure that all data collected in relation to performance
indicators of the financial programmes will be gender-disaggregated where appropriate. This is a significant
step towards improving gender equality monitoring in EU programmes and complements the updated better
regulation guidelines, which will ensure that future
ex ante
impact assessments of all relevant spending
programmes duly consider the effects on gender equality from the start.
(
43
) Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the
financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, OJ L, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024, ELI:
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/2509/oj.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Examples of gender-disaggregated data reported in the programme performance statements (Annex 4
to this report)
•
Under
the Recovery and Resilience Facility,
participants in education and training supported
by the Recovery and Resilience Facility amounted to a total of 4.29 million across all age groups
in 2024. Of this total, 2.37 million were female, 1.92 million were male and 499 were non-binary.
Moreover, the number of young people aged 15–29 receiving support in 2024 amounted to
969 960 were male, 848 584 were female and 204 were non-binary.
Under
Horizon Europe,
as of January 2024, women project coordinators represented 31% of
Horizon Europe projects. This reflects a notable increase in the share of women-led consortia, up
from 23% for Horizon 2020. Moreover, women make up 51.4% of participants in Horizon Europe
boards and expert groups, with 74 women (52.9%) in official expert groups and 38 women
(48.7%) in special groups. Similarly, among researchers in Horizon Europe, 37.8% are women
(75 114), 62.1% are men (123 472), and 0.1% (189) are non-binary.
Under
Erasmus,
in 2023, 60% of the provided mobility opportunities were taken up by women.
The gender distribution varied depending on the field of education: adult education had the
highest percentage of women (70%), followed by school education (67%), higher education
(61%), youth education (58%) and vocational education and training (54%).
Under the
common agricultural policy,
the total number of farmers receiving direct support
(provisional data for 2024) was 5 713 335. This included 1 796 858 women (31.45%), 3 612 428
men (63.23%) and 1 841 non-binary individuals (0.03%), 229 833 non-prevalence responses (
44
)
(4.02%) and 72 232 prefer-not-to-say responses (1.26%).
Under the
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance,
628 418 people directly benefitted from
EU-supported interventions that aim to reduce social and economic inequality. Available sex-
disaggregated data indicates that at least 202 532 were female and 191 068 were male (
45
).
Under the
humanitarian aid programme,
the percentage of beneficiaries disaggregated by
gender in 2024 is as follows: 48% female, 39% male, and 13% unknown (
46
).
•
•
•
•
•
Digital tracking
The digital transition is a core element of the Commission’s competitiveness agenda.
Beyond enhancing
EU competitiveness, including leadership in artificial intelligence innovation, it serves as a vital catalyst for
prosperity, economic recovery and resilience while enabling innovative solutions to tackle global challenges.
In 2021, the Commission presented its vision for the EU’s digital transformation by 2030, with a digital
compass for the EU’s Digital Decade that evolves around four digital dimensions:
•
•
•
•
skills
secure and sustainable digital infrastructure
digital transformation of businesses and
digitalisation of public services.
(
44
) For cases where a perfect gender balance in the decision-making power occurs between different genders
(
45
) The reported values are aggregates of data collected at the intervention level. Some of these datasets included sex-
disaggregated information, while others did not. As a result, the sum of male and female beneficiaries does not
match the overall total.
46
( ) Number of beneficiaries by age and sex reached by humanitarian aid operations available in EVA actions operational
data (such data reflect information encoded in Fiche Opérationnelle and in the European Hospital and Healthcare
Federation).
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On 14 December 2022, the co-legislators adopted the Digital Decade policy programme, taking up the digital
compass and its vision, setting quantitative EU targets for the four cardinal points to be reached by 2030, and
establishing a cooperation mechanism with the Member States to progress towards these targets.
Skills
Information and communication technology
specialist
:
20 million specialists and
gender
Digital transformation of
businesses
Technology uptake
:
75% of EU companies using
cloud / artificial intelligence / big data.
Innovators
:
grow scale-ups and finance to double
the number of EU unicorns.
Late adopters
:
more than 90% of small and
medium-sized enterprises reach at least a basic
level of digital intensity.
Digitalisation of public services
Key public services
:
100% online.
e-health:
100% of citizens having access to
medical records.
Digital identity
:
80% of citizens using digital
identification.
balance
.
Basic digital skills
:
at least 80% of the
population.
Secure and sustainable digital
infrastructure
Connectivity
:
gigabit speed for everyone, 5G
everywhere.
Cutting-edge semiconductors:
double the EU
share in global production.
Data
–
edge and cloud
:
10 000 climate-
neutral, highly secure edge nodes.
Computing
:
first computer with quantum
acceleration.
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Achievements
Almost 16.2 million dwellings gained
access to very-high-capacity internet
networks,
including 5G networks and gigabit
speed, through measures under the
Recovery
and Resilience Facility
by the end of 2024.
First exascale supercomputer
(one quintillion
calculations per second) was launched in Europe
to support researchers, industry and artificial
intelligence development. Jedi
–
the first module
of the Jupiter exascale supercomputer
–
ranked
first on
the list of the world’s top 500 greenest
supercomputers in June 2024.
Under the Connecting Europe Facility, 5 000
terabits per second of additional capacity
were created in 2024 by deployed backbone
networks, including submarine cables.
Under the space programme, 4 billion
Galileo-enabled devices were in use in
2024.
The positioning accuracy performance of
Galileo is three times better when compared to
other global navigation satellite systems, with
excellent availability.
How much do we spend?
The 2025 stocktaking exercise to estimate EU spending on the digital transition was conducted for the
implementation of the 2021-2027 EU budget over the 2021-2024 period. The findings show that the EU
budget, including NextGenerationEU, is channelling significant contributions to all of the digital transition’s key
dimensions. The Commission’s ambition is to build on the findings to develop a comprehensive and robust
methodology
for measuring the EU budget’s overall contribution to the digital transition across all
programmes.
Based on the results of the stocktaking exercise,
EUR 208.1 billion of the EU budget (including
NextGenerationEU) was dedicated to the digital transition between 2021 and 2024, representing
almost 15.1% of the total EU budget for that period
(
47
). A significant share of this amount came from
the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which dedicated EUR 149 billion towards the digital transition during the
same period.
(
47
) Given that a fully-fledged tracking methodology for the digital contributions of the EU budget has not yet been
established, any aggregation of the contributions of individual programmes at this stage should be interpreted with
caution. This is because the methodologies employed by individual spending programmes may not be strictly
comparable. Despite this, such aggregation can still provide a general estimate of the total digital contribution from
the EU budget.
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Estimated contributions to the digital transition of the EU budget programmes, in 2021-2024
(cumulatively)
(*)
(*) Including NextGenerationEU, in EUR billion.
NB: For readability purposes, the scale is broken, as the Recovery and Resilience Facility provides more than 10 times more support to the
digital transition than the next most contributing programme. The abbreviations used stand for:
RRF
–
Recovery and Resilience Facility;
HORIZONEU
–
Horizon Europe;
NDICI
–
Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument
–
Global Europe;
DIGITALEU
–
digital Europe programme;
ESF PLUS
–
European Social Fund Plus;
JTM
–
Just Transition Mechanism;
SPACE
–
EU space
programme;
CEF
–
Connecting Europe Facility;
IPA III
–
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance III;
IBMF
–
Integrated Border
Management Fund;
ISF
–
Internal Security Fund;
CREATIVEEU
–
Creative Europe programme;
CAP
–
common agricultural policy;
EMFAF
–
European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund;
SECURE CONNECTIVITY
- EU secure connectivity programme;
TSI
–
Technical Support Instrument;
ESC
–
European Solidarity Corps;
OCT
–
Decision on the Overseas Association, including Greenland;
RIGHTS
–
citizens, equality, rights and values programme;
TCC
–
Turkish Cypriot community;
EDF
–
European Defence Fund.
Source:
European Commission.
Almost all EU budget programmes contribute to the digital transition.
However, due to data
limitations, digital-related expenditure for the 2021-2024 period could only be tracked for 31 out of the 53
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spending programmes implemented in 2024. The Ukraine Facility and the Reform and Growth Facility for the
Western Balkans entered into force in 2024. As the implementation of operations under these two
programmes only began in the second half of the year, budgetary commitments contributing to the digital
transition
were not included in this year’s reporting exercise.
In terms of thematic concentration, 89% of the reported digital expenditure this year could be attributed to
the four categories of the digital compass. Significant efforts are being made to support the digitalisation of
public services (in particular government ICT solutions, e-services and applications, and the digitalisation of
healthcare) and businesses, with strong support directed towards small and medium-sized enterprises. More
information is provided in the following sections.
Estimated contributions to the digital transition by key digital dimensions (2021-2024)
(*)
(*) Including NextGenerationEU, in billion EUR.
NB: Not all programmes could be taken into account due to methodological limitations. Approximately 89% of the reported expenditure
could be disaggregated into the above categories.
Source:
European Commission, based on the 2025 stocktaking exercise.
Digitalisation of businesses and public services
The EU budget (including NextGenerationEU) is making a significant contribution to the digitalisation of the
private and public sectors. Estimates for 2021 to 2024 are that EUR 61.0 billion was dedicated to the support
of the EU budget to e-government (including the digitalisation of health and justice systems) and
EUR 40.3 billion for the support of the digitalisation of businesses. The Recovery and Resilience Facility, the
European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund are important contributors to this investment.
From 2021 to 2024, 11.6% of the amounts from the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion
Fund were used to finance interventions that advance the digital transition, in particular supporting small and
medium-sized enterprises and public services.
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Estimated contributions of the EU budget to the digitalisation of public services (2021-2024)
(*)
(*) Including NextGenerationEU.
NB: These amounts are the result of the stocktaking exercise conducted for 2021 to 2024 and exclude the external action programmes
and the common agricultural policy due to methodological limitations.
Source:
European Commission, based on the 2025 stocktaking exercise.
Supporting the development and deployment of digital technologies and
research
From 2021 to 2024, estimates indicate that the EU contributed EUR 27.7 billion to investment in digital
capacities and the deployment of advanced technologies, and EUR 4.7 billion to research. These numbers are
lower than those reported during the last reporting cycles, mainly because of an updated methodology
applied under Horizon Europe. These figures are not yet final and will be updated as more information from
funded projects becomes available.
The main contributing programmes towards investment in digital capacities and the deployment of advanced
technologies, and research are the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Horizon Europe, the EU space programme,
the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Mechanism and the Digital
Europe programme.
Investing in digital skills
From 2021 to 2024, the EU budget, including NextGenerationEU, made a significant contribution to both basic
and advanced digital skills, with an estimated investment totalling EUR 29.6 billion. In addition to supporting
the development of digital skills at all levels, along with information technology services and applications for
digital skills and digital inclusion, particular emphasis was placed on supporting young people. The main
programmes contributing to this dimension are the Recovery and Resilience Facility (EUR 23.6 billion) and the
European Social Fund Plus (EUR 3.8 billion), providing support to youth employment and the socioeconomic
integration of young people.
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Enhancing digital connectivity
The EU budget, including NextGenerationEU, is contributing to enhancing digital connectivity,
which
will give citizens and businesses new opportunities to benefit fully from the digital single market and
accelerate economic growth. Between 2021 and 2024, investment in digital connectivity, including investment
in very-high-capacity broadband networks and 5G network coverage, is estimated to have reached
EUR 22.1 billion. The main programmes contributing are the Recovery and Resilience Facility (EUR 13.3 billion),
the cohesion policy funds (EUR 1.2 billion) and the Connecting Europe Facility.
The common agricultural policy plays a key role in improving broadband access in rural areas by supporting
broadband infrastructure and improved access to e-government services. The first results on the
implementation of the common agricultural policy show that almost 8% of the rural population has benefited
from improved access to services and infrastructure through support from the programme.
Under the Connecting Europe Facility, 5 000 terabits per second of additional capacity were created by
deployed backbone networks, including submarine cables. A total of EUR 500 million was awarded to 43
projects to support the digitalisation of the trans-European transport network, notably through support for the
European Railway Traffic Management System technology. The programme also aims to modernise energy
grids and deploy digital connectivity infrastructure to support the EU’s digital transition. Specifically, the
programme will support the deployment of 5G systems and high-capacity digital networks to transform
various sectors, including healthcare, education and manufacturing. This will enhance digital readiness,
competitiveness and inclusiveness, particularly in the outermost regions, and contribute to the EU’s economic
recovery and growth.
The European Investment Fund allocated EUR 3.64 billion to support small and medium-sized enterprises in
innovation and digitalisation through a dedicated guarantee supported by InvestEU. This guarantee supports
various digitalisation efforts, including innovative business models and digital skills acquisition. Additionally,
the fund’s equity product for small and medium-sized enterprises and research includes a sub-product that
specifically supports investment in digital, cultural and creative industry solutions.
The twin transition: exploiting synergies
The twin green and digital transitions are deeply interconnected,
offering the potential to create
significant synergies. The EU budget is instrumental in this process, acting as a key enabler in unlocking these
synergies. It provides the necessary financial support for initiatives that align with the objectives of both
transitions, thereby ensuring that the potential benefits can be fully realised. The table below provides
illustrative examples of some of the synergies that are being achieved with the support of the EU budget.
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•
Financed by Horizon Europe,
the TwinPolitics project explores the socio-technical
challenges of creating a digital twin of the ocean to aid in climate change mitigation
and ocean data management.
By addressing development, access and legal challenges, the
project aims to enhance the use of digital twins of the ocean in national and international
contexts. This initiative supports informed decision-making to protect marine environments.
Supporting
smart grids,
such as those under the Connecting Europe Facility energy strand,
contributes to sustainable development by the
integration of energy from renewable
sources
and the development of smart energy grids. An example is the completion of one of the
internal lines that is part of the Finland–Sweden interconnection, which aims at increasing the
transmission capacity between the Member States.
In addition, the
cohesion policy funds
earmarked EUR 5 billion for the investments in
smart
energy systems
through the entire 2021-2027 programming period, of which
EUR 1.44 billion
have been allocated to selected projects that should result in an
additional 1.94 million end
users connected
to the smart energy systems.
As part of the EU’s broader efforts to
modernise and innovate agricultural practices and
rural development
under the common agricultural policy, the support for the implementation of
digital technologies, such as precision farming, contributes to the
EU’s goal for a more
sustainable agricultural sector.
The EU’s Galileo satellite system
supports technologies that are key enablers for smart and
sustainable transport, and in particular for connected and autonomous driving. In road transport,
using navigation and positioning services from Galileo leads to a range of innovative applications
that enable smart mobility and multi-mode transport digitalisation with optimised travel routes,
in turn allowing for a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. In air transport, using the European
Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service for the efficient definition of flight routes helps reduce
fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
•
•
•
•
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The EU budget and the sustainable development goals
What do we do?
The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its 17
sustainable
development goals and 169 targets, has given new impetus to global efforts to achieve
sustainable development.
The EU has played an important role in shaping the agenda, through public
consultations, dialogue with partners and in-depth research. The EU is committed to playing an active role to
maximise progress towards the sustainable development goals, as outlined, for example, in the Commission
communication ‘Next steps for a sustainable European future’,
in the Commission staff working document
‘Delivering on the UN’s
Sustainable Development Goals
– A comprehensive approach’ and recently in the first-
ever EU voluntary review on progress in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, adopted on 15 May 2023. Moreover, Eurostat publishes a report annually on monitoring
progress towards the UN sustainable development goals in an EU context.
The von der Leyen Commission has maintained a consistent focus on the UN sustainable
development goals throughout its work.
Since 2020, several major policy initiatives have been
introduced, including the European Green Deal, the Climate Law, and the 2023 Green Deal industrial plan.
More recent measures include the clean industrial deal, the 2025 Annual Sustainable Growth Survey, the
updated European skills agenda, and the competitiveness compass.
In line with the 2021 Commission communication on the better regulation agenda and the objectives of the
current multiannual financial framework, the Commission further strengthened the integration of the
sustainable development goals
into the EU’s policy and budgetary cycle. Overall, this
mainstreaming ensures
that all major legislative and financial proposals are assessed for their contribution to the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development,
thereby reinforcing the EU’s commitment to sustainability, strategic foresight and
evidence-based policymaking.
To this end, since 2021 the Commission has been systematically identifying the relevant sustainable
development goals for each proposal and examining how the initiative supports their achievement. In addition,
links to the sustainable development goals will be included throughout evaluations and impact assessments.
At the EU level, sustainable development challenges are addressed through policies and
regulatory instruments.
As far as the former are concerned, the EU budget, through its spending
programmes, provides a significant contribution to sustainable development by complementing national
budgets, in line with the principle of subsidiarity. In doing so, the design and implementation of the EU
spending programmes aim to deliver on the objectives in each policy field, while promoting sustainability
through the initiatives and interventions of the relevant programmes in a connected and consistent way. In
particular, 47 out of 52 of the 2021-2027 EU spending programmes contributed towards at least one
sustainable development goal in 2024.
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Number of 2021-2027 programmes contributing to individual sustainable development goals
in 2024
Source:
European Commission.
In light of the cross-cutting nature of the sustainable development goals, and to ensure a
holistic approach in addressing sustainable development, 99% of the EU budget contributes to
sustainable development goals.
In addition, the vast majority of the 2021-2027 programmes (42 out of
52) are designed to address multiple sustainable development goals through their policy measures. In the
programme performance statements’ (Annex 4 to this report), the Commission presents the sustainable
development goals to which each EU funding programme contributes, along with examples of their
contribution. The infographic below provides, in a non-exhaustive manner, examples illustrating how EU
programmes contribute to the sustainable development goals.
The 2023 publication
EU voluntary review on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development,
together with
Sustainable Development in the European Union
–
Monitoring report on progress
towards the SDGs in an EU context
–
2024 edition,
reaffirmed the
EU budget as a key driver for
delivering substantial progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
(
48
). Looking
ahead, the EU has reinforced its commitment to systematically integrate and report on the implementation of
the sustainable development goals across all relevant EU programmes, ensuring policy coherence and
sustained momentum towards achieving all goals.
(
48
) European Commission,
EU voluntary review on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2023,
https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2023-
06/SDG-Report-WEB.pdf
and European Commission: Eurostat,
Sustainable Development in the European Union
–
Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context
–
2024 edition,
Publications Office of the European
Union, Luxembourg, 2024,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2785/98370.
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In Czechia, the
European Social Fund
Plus
is helping people in need to
rebuild their lives, starting with a roof
over their head. Through the social
housing initiative, individuals and
families in need can access dedicated
housing points in the city of Ostrava,
while social workers make regular visits
to the new residents to ensure stability.
This sustained support has a high
success rate, with over 85% of
participants maintaining their housing
stability. The city’s proactive approach
has already changed many lives, with
59 households benefiting from housing
and a renewed sense of opportunity.
The
EU4health programme
delivered
measures in 2024 to implement the
healthier
together initiative, Europe’s
beating cancer plan and mental health
initiatives, and to address selected
health risk factors and health
determinants. The programme also
funded measures that are producing
guidance to improve healthcare access.
In Yemen,
EU humanitarian funding
averted a serious food security crisis and
none of the country’s districts experienced
famine throughout 2024. EUR 30 million
supported the resumption of the World Food
Programme’s emergency assistance in areas
controlled by the de facto authorities after
nearly one year of pause in general food
distributions. In this context of limited
resources, the Cash Consortium of Yemen
remained a key EU partner. More than half a
million people were able to meet their food
and basic needs thanks to the multipurpose
cash assistance provided by the consortium.
Financed by
Erasmus+,
the
‘Share
the
music for inclusive learning in education’
project supported teachers by providing a
practical framework and showcasing best
practices for managing inclusion and
diversity in education. Its primary goal is to
offer pre-primary and primary school
teachers new knowledge, key competencies
and ready-to-use educational materials to
effectively use music as a pedagogical tool
for inclusive education. Additionally, the
project aims to help teachers develop their
social and digital skills through its digital
repository and online training resources.
By the end of 2024, the
Recovery and
Resilience Facility
had supported the
construction or reconstruction of at least
517 km of the public water supply network
in Croatia.
In 2024, under the
Ukraine Facility,
Ukraine adopted the new demographic
development strategy up to 2040. The
new law on the corporate governance of
state-owned enterprises, and the national
strategy for mining action up to 2033
also include measures that encourage
gender equality.
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In Poland, the
Just Transition Fund
helped reduce energy bills and allowed
citizens to benefit from stable, ecological
and affordable energy sources. The fund
invested
in Western Małopolska in the
energy efficiency of public buildings and
of housing, including by supporting the
installation of home insulation, rooftop
solar installations and heat pumps. The
fund invested EUR 2.4 billion in Silesia and
Western Małopolska.
Under the
Instrument for Pre-accession
Assistance,
in the area of employment
and social inclusion, 21 300 people (out of
which 10 870 were women) participated in
the youth guarantee scheme in North
Macedonia in 2024. With 8 152 people
having a successful and timely result, for
example 6 672 were employed within four
months upon entry, and 1 480 participating
in one of the active programmes and
measures, the success of the youth
guarantee scheme in 2024 rose to 38.2%.
The operational plan for active employment
programmes and measures and labour
market services, and the youth guarantee
scheme were implemented, covering
11 194 people, especially young people.
47.4% of the beneficiaries of active
employment measures were women, 1.5%
were people with disabilities, 67.7% were
young people and 4.4% were Roma.
Under the
Asylum Migration and
Integration Fund,
phase 7 of the regional
development and protection programme
for North Africa is running from 2025 to
2028 with a budget (EU grant amount
maximum) of EUR 37.5 million. The main
objective of the proposed action is to
support non-EU countries in North Africa
and across the Atlantic and Mediterranean
migration route to consolidate their
migration and asylum systems and build
their capacity to provide adequate
reception, protection and durable solutions
for vulnerable migrants, asylum seekers
and refugees.
By the end of 2024, the
Recovery and
Resilience Facility
supported Malta in
adopting construction industry standards to
reduce waste and improve its treatment
according to the waste hierarchy.
Through
Horizon Europe,
the European
partnership on innovative small and
medium-sized enterprises helps
innovative businesses increase their
research and innovation capacity and
productivity and successfully embed
themselves in global value chains and
new markets.
The
LIFE programme
SeedNEB project
applied solutions from the new European
Bauhaus and nature-based solutions in
three municipalities: Dunaújváros,
Hungary; Potenza, Italy and Lorquí, Spain.
The project will demonstrate urban
strategies and on-site interventions based
on nature such as green roofs and
facades. These strategies and
interventions can foster biodiversity,
reduce the impact of heat waves and
improve the well-being of their residents.
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The
Innovation Fund
is designed to
answer this goal and take urgent action
to combat climate change and its
impacts. The Grey2Green-II project will
install a 200 MW electrolyser for the
production of renewable hydrogen.
Equally, the eMETHANOLxWSolution
–
a
next-generation tanker vessel powered
by e-methanol and wind-assisted
propulsion
–
aims to contribute to the
decarbonisation of the maritime
industry by demonstrating an
innovative combination of foldable
suction sails and a dual-fuel engine for
a new hybrid tanker vessel.
The
European Regional Development
Fund
planned EUR 9.5 billion to support
this goal. For instance, project ARIEM+
aims to support regions in northern
Portugal and Spain where wildfires in the
last five years have devastated nearly
one million hectares of land. Managed
from an emergency centre in the Galicia
region, in collaboration with the Castilla
and León region and the North of
Portugal, the project has created an
emergency plan to prevent and respond
to major disasters such as floods, heavy
storms and wildfires. The project aims to
benefit around 600 000 people. Through
coordinated communications, training and
new technology equipment, Spain and
Portugal will now be able to join forces
when an emergency strikes. The cohesion
policy funds provided 75% of the
EUR 4 million ARIEM+ budget, while the
rest was funded by the regions of Galicia,
Castilla and León and the North of
Portugal.
Regional fisheries management
organisations
promote the conservation
and sustainable use of the oceans, seas
and marine resources by improving
management measures adopted following
scientific advice and by promoting healthy
tuna stocks in the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans, and through the governance
framework established by sustainable
fisheries partnership agreements with a
number of non-EU countries.
The
Common Foreign and Security
Policy
measures contribute to the
preservation of peace, conflict prevention,
strengthening of international security,
consolidating and supporting democracy,
the rule of law and human rights by
advising and building capacity on security
sector reforms, the rule of law and border
management, by supporting mediation and
conflict resolution initiatives or by
supporting the universalisation and
effective implementation of international
treaties and conventions addressing the
proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction or conventional weapons.
The
EU Space programme,
in particular via Copernicus services, has developed numerous
partnerships at the global, regional, national and local levels with institutional, non-governmental and
private stakeholders.
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4. Strategic technologies for Europe platform
Introduction
The strategic technologies for Europe platform (STEP) (
49
) was established by the EU as part of its response to
the
urgent need to underpin its technological leadership and enhance its resilience in strategic
sectors.
The platform was set up to steer EU financial resources towards achieving the following two objectives (see
Article 2 of the
STEP regulation).
1.
Support the
development or manufacturing of critical technologies
throughout the EU, or
safeguard and strengthen their respective value chains, in the following sectors: digital and deep-
innovation technologies, clean and resource-efficient technologies and biotechnologies.
Address
shortages in labour and skills
across these strategic industries, ensuring Europe has the
workforce necessary for innovation and production.
2.
Given the tight budget outlook, STEP operates according to a novel approach by reorienting
resources towards STEP-relevant investment from 11 existing EU programmes,
including:
•
•
five programmes directly managed by the Commission for the internal market (Horizon Europe, the
Innovation Fund, the European Defence Fund, the digital Europe programme and EU4health);
five programmes implemented by Member States but still funded by the EU through national
envelopes (the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund,
the European Social Fund Plus and the Recovery and Resilience Facility);
one
programme (InvestEU) implemented by the Commission’s partners
(e.g. the European
Investment Bank, other national development banks).
•
STEP also came with a budgetary reinforcement of EUR 1.5 billion specifically for STEP-related projects to be
supported by the European Defence Fund.
The main implementation tool of STEP is the reprogramming of the mentioned EU funding
programmes, supported in some cases by financial incentives.
These include specific measures to
encourage Member States to reallocate cohesion policy resources to STEP priorities/objectives. Article 19 of
the STEP Regulation also permitted a 6% increase in Recovery and Resilience Facility transfers to InvestEU
Member State compartments if these are destined to fund STEP-relevant projects.
When it comes to the five funds directly managed by the Commission (i.e.
‘direct
management’) in the remit
of STEP, the STEP Regulation introduced a new quality label, the
STEP (Sovereignty) Seal.
This is to be
awarded by the Commission to high-quality projects that align with STEP objectives. Its purpose is to help
these projects attract public and private investment, i.e. by facilitating cumulative or alternative funding
across EU funding programmes. In 2024 the Commission awarded a total of
162 STEP Seals
across five
Innovation Fund topics (149), two Horizon Europe (Pillar II
–
Space) topics (6) and three EU4health topics (7).
(
49
) European Commission: Directorate-General for Budget,
‘Strategic
technologies for Europe platform’, European
Commission website,
https://strategic-technologies.europa.eu/index_en.
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Overview of the 11 STEP programmes
5
EU PROGRAMMES
Funding and STEP Seal awarded
by the Commission
Horizon Europe
Innovation Fund
Digital Europe
programme
EU4Health
European Defence
Fund
PROJECTS’ FAST
TRACK TO OTHER
FUNDING
6
EU PROGRAMMES
Funding allocated by Member States and
financial institutions (e.g. EIB)
Award of
Sovereignty Seal
European Regional
Development Fund
European Social
Fund Plus
Recovery and
Resilience
facility
(
*
)
Cohesion Fund
Just Transition
Fund
InvestEU
(
**
)
(*)
Performance-based programme managed by the European Commission and implemented by the Member States.
(**)
Implemented through the European Investment Bank group and other implementing partners
–
not awarded the seal.
Source: European Commission.
Additionally, the STEP Regulation required the launch of a
STEP (Sovereignty) Portal
(
50
) to simplify project
promoters’ access to integrated information on EU funding opportunities, thus overcoming the existing
fragmentation across multiple websites and platforms. In addition to providing project promoters with
information on relevant EU funding opportunities across all EU funding programmes in the STEP remit (i.e.
including those published by managing authorities in the Member States), this new Commission hub provides
useful information to managing authorities and to private investors, including for example a dashboard of the
projects awarded the STEP Seal and an interactive map, along with various guidance and interpretation
documents.
Finally, the implementation of STEP is supported outside of the Commission by a
network of STEP national
contact points,
appointed by all Member States (except Ireland) and chaired by DG Budget’s
Director for
Revenue and Multiannual Financial Framework.
For additional information on the STEP Seal, the STEP Portal and the network of national contact points,
please refer to the 2024 annual report on STEP.
(
50
)
https://strategic-technologies.europa.eu/index_en.
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Annex 1
–
Performance achievements in 2024
Steering EU funding for strategic technologies
Programmes under direct management
Sectoral breakdown of the resources earmarked for STEP in 2024
Source: European Commission.
Despite being adopted midway through the multiannual financial framework period, STEP was swiftly
implemented by the Commission, which reprogrammed EU funds under the five programmes it directly
manages to support STEP objectives across the EU. While these programmes pursue broader goals beyond
STEP, in 2024 over
EUR 4.6 billion was allocated to calls for proposals
catering to STEP-relevant
technologies. By year end,
more than EUR 4.9 billion was awarded
(
51
).
In 2024 one call for proposals specifically targeted the development of skills and competencies in STEP-
relevant sectors: the
specialised
education programmes in key
capacity areas
under the digital Europe
programme.
Driving clean innovation
Clean and resource-efficient technologies are one of the key technological focuses of STEP, including a broad
spectrum of innovations, from
renewable technologies to sustainable fuels, carbon capture, and
decarbonisation technologies
(
52
).
(
51
) This amount corresponds to the total amount awarded to the projects selected for funding under the Innovation
Fund, Horizon Europe and EU4health. It may be adjusted upon the signing of the grant agreements, which could
modify individual contributions and cannot be reconciled with the EUR 4.6 billion of the introductory paragraph that
refers to budget allocated (versus funding awarded) under the STEP calls closed in 2024 under all five directly
managed programmes in the STEP remit.
(
52
) A detailed but non-exhaustive list of technologies covered by the STEP Regulation is available in the Communication
from the Commission
–
Guidance note concerning certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2024/795 establishing the
strategic technologies for Europe platform (STEP), C(2024) 3148 final of 8 May 2024,
https://strategic-
technologies.europa.eu/document/download/e204ce9e-0407-4f03-82f8-
6f518ce12886_en?filename=C_2024_3148_F1_COMMUNICATION_FROM_COMMISSION_EN_V6_P1_3408774.PDF.
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Performance achievements in 2024
The Innovation Fund, funded by the emissions trading system, was the largest contributor to STEP objectives.
Its 2024 calls resulted in awards for EUR 4.8 billion in grants to 85 projects, covering up to 60% of capital and
operating expenses. Supported initiatives included biomass-based chemical production in Slovakia (L1X),
large-scale thermal storage in Austria (ScaleUp) and carbon dioxide storage in Denmark (Greensand
Future).
Three cross-border projects, including the
Energy Observer 2 hydrogen cargo ship (France–Netherlands),
received EUR 150.6 million. Entities established in Germany and Belgium led in funding received
(EUR 661 million and EUR 604 million, respectively), followed by France, Spain and Denmark.
Accelerating digital and deep-tech innovations
STEP support for digital and deep technologies was channelled through Horizon Europe, the digital Europe
programme and the European Defence Fund in 2024, with EUR 461 million earmarked in support of
advanced computing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, microelectronics and quantum
technologies.
By the end of 2024 (
53
), applications to the calls for topics of the European Defence Fund and
of the digital Europe programme had not yet been evaluated (
54
). Six projects under Horizon Europe were
selected, receiving EUR 18.2 million in total under Cluster 4 (‘Digital, industry and space’). All these projects
were promoted by consortia across countries, including participants from non-EU countries such as Iceland
and Norway. Entities from France and Germany were the largest recipients of funds (EUR 9.6 million and
EUR 4.4 million, respectively). Examples of projects include
the planning urban mobility actions project,
a
collaboration between German, French and Italian promoters that addresses EU strategic dependencies in the
field of microelectronics for space applications, and OpticalSpaceLink, where entities from Belgium, Germany,
Greece and France will collaboratively develop components for space-grade optical communications.
Empowering biotechnologies
For biotechnologies
–
vital for medical innovation and EU health resilience
–
a budget over EUR 150 million in
STEP funding was earmarked through EU4health and the European Defence Fund, in support of a broad
spectrum of cutting-edge fields, including
genomics and pharmacogenomics, DNA synthesis, cell and
tissue engineering, bioinformatics and nano-biotechnologies.
By the end of 2024, EUR 130 million had
been awarded under EU4health to seven projects, in grants that cover between 60% and 80% of their eligible
costs. Four projects were multi-beneficiary, including three consortia across countries. Examples include
PharmSD
3.0 in Portugal for the development of a continuous pharmaceutical spray-drying process and
RoboPharma,
an artificial-intelligence- and robotics-driven platform developed by partners from Germany,
Estonia, France, Finland and Sweden. Beneficiaries from Germany and Italy led in terms of grants awarded
(EUR 47 million and EUR 34 million, respectively), followed by France (EUR 19 million).
Cohesion policy funds
The cohesion policy has emerged as one of the main contributors to STEP objectives and to the
competitiveness and resilience of the European economy
–
especially remarkable given that STEP was
launched midway through the multiannual financial framework period. Many Member States had already
signalled their intention to allocate cohesion policy funds to STEP even before the formal adoption of the
STEP Regulation.
STEP introduced several means of flexibility and incentives for cohesion policy, including the possibility to
finance productive investment in enterprises other than small and medium-sized enterprises under the
(
53
) The 2024 annual report covers the calls for proposals closed by 31 December 2024, regardless of whether the
results were announced by the end of the year.
54
( ) By March 2025, the evaluation was concluded under the three topics of the digital Europe programme and 17 STEP
Seals were awarded. They will be reported in the 2025 annual report.
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Performance achievements in 2024
European Regional Development Fund’s
STEP priorities,
higher co-financing rates of up to 100% at the
level of the STEP-dedicated priority
and
30% of the allocation to STEP priorities paid by the
Commission as a one-off 30% pre-financing
(
55
). The first wave of programme amendment requests
was submitted by the 31 August 2024 deadline to benefit from an exemption from the cohesion midterm
review in 2025. By the end of December 2024,
41 amendments from six Member States had been
submitted, amounting to EUR 6.4 billion in cohesion policy funds:
EUR 4.8 billion under the European
Regional Development Fund, EUR 838 million under the European Social Fund Plus and EUR 764 million under
the Just Transition Fund. More amendments are expected in 2025.
Financial volume of STEP amendments per Member State (submitted versus adopted, descending
by amount)
NB: Only for programmes with dedicated priorities or known amounts dedicated to the platform based on intervention fields allocations.
Source:
Member State reporting.
Analysis of the use of the strategic technologies for Europe platform in
cohesion policy
As of 31 December 2024,
29 amendments had been approved by the Commission, totalling nearly
EUR 5.9 billion.
The majority of STEP-relevant investment was proposed through regional programmes in
Germany, Spain, France and Italy
–
23 of the 29 approved programmes
–
amounting to EUR 3.7 billion. The
remaining six national programmes accounted for EUR 2.2 billion. Importantly, national-level programming
does not preclude eligible regions from benefiting.
Productive investment accounts for around 60% of the redirected allocations, followed by 15% for skills
development and research and innovation. Another 10% supports technology transfer, business incubation,
start-ups, and services linked to the low-carbon economy and climate resilience. Within productive investment,
amounts are rather evenly split across STEP sectors, with significant use of the new European Regional
Development Fund’s flexibility to finance enterprises other than small and medium-sized enterprises.
(
55
) 30% pre-financing was also paid to the whole Just Transition Fund upon the adoption of the STEP Regulation.
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Performance achievements in 2024
Financial volume of STEP amendments by sector (only for programmes with dedicated priority
axes or known amounts dedicated to STEP)
Source: European Commission.
Based on the main output and result indicators selected by Member States in the amended programmes
–
and in line with STEP objectives
–
it is expected that this investment will benefit approximately 7 200
enterprises and generate around 9 800 jobs within the supported entities.
Call for proposals under cohesion policy and selected projects
Following the approval of the first STEP amendments, Denmark and Germany (
56
) published (and reported to
the Commission, as required by the STEP Regulation) four STEP calls by the end of 2024, amounting to
EUR 244 million (
57
). Five Member States
–
Denmark, Germany, Spain, France and Italy
–
have already selected
projects under STEP.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU)
and
InvestEU
To support uptake of projects awarded a STEP Seal, the Commission issued updated guidance in July 2024
clarifying the process for amending recovery and resilience plans to include STEP objectives. It also
maintained regular engagement with STEP national contact points and recovery and resilience plan national
authorities, sharing relevant information, including the list of STEP Seals awarded in each country.
As of 31 December 2024, implementation of STEP under the Recovery and Resilience Facility remained
limited. In particular, no Member State had amended its recovery and resilience plan to include a STEP priority
or support a project awarded a STEP Seal nor had any Member State allocated Recovery and Resilience
Facility resources to the InvestEU Member State compartment for STEP-relevant investment (
58
).
(
56
) Germany launched a further five calls, not entirely STEP-dedicated, which might result in STEP projects.
(
57
) Germany, Italy and Latvia reported further calls at the beginning of 2025.
(
58
) Article 19 of the STEP Regulation amends the regulations governing the Recovery and Resilience Facility, allowing
Member States to direct up to 6% of their Recovery and Resilience Facility funds towards the InvestEU Member State
compartment in support of financial investment in STEP-related technologies, on top of the pre-existing 4% transfer
possibility, bringing the total potential transfer to 10%.
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Internal control
and financial
management
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Annex 2
–
Internal control and financial management
1.
Strong tools to manage the EU budget in
a complex environment
The European Commission must fulfil its crucial role in shaping and implementing the European Union’s
policies while making the best possible use of taxpayers’ money. It is therefore essential to ensure that EU
spending is effective, efficient and economical, while also complying with the applicable rules. The
Commission strives to achieve the highest standards of financial management while striking the right balance
between a low level of error, prompt payments and reasonable control costs.
1.1.
The EU budget: a wide variety of areas, recipients and
spending in a complex environment
In 2024 the expenditure managed by the Commission amounted to EUR 179.0 billion (see figures below) (
59
).
This encompasses the share of the EU budget managed by the Commission, along with the European
Development Fund (
60
) and the EU trust funds. This expenditure was made through more than 296 000
payments, ranging from a few hundred euro per beneficiary (for Erasmus+ mobility grants) to hundreds of
millions of euro (for large projects such as the ITER thermonuclear reactor or Galileo and Copernicus, along
with budgetary support for partner countries) and even billions of euro (for the Ukraine Facility). This shows
that the recipients of EU funds are very diverse and numerous. This expenditure concerns both the 2014-
2020 and the 2021-2027 programming periods. In 2024, the number of payments related to the latter
started to increase, and is expected to reach significant levels in the years to come.
Relevant expenditure of the EU budget implemented by the Commission in 2024, by policy area
Single market,
innovation and
digital
Cohesion,
resilience and
values
Natural
resources and
environment
Migration and
border
management
Security and
defence
Neighbourhood
and the world
EUR 24.2 billion
(13.5%)
EUR 62.0 billion
(34.6%)
EUR 57.4 billion
(32.0%)
EUR 3.5 billion
(2.0%)
EUR 0.3 billion
(0.2%)
EUR 20.0 billion
(11.2%)
More than 4 500
Horizon Europe
grants were signed
in 2024.
Around 4.4 million
enterprises have
been supported
and almost
63 million people
have been covered
by improved
health services
since 2014.
Some 5.7 million
beneficiaries were
supported by
agricultural funds
under a variety of
different schemes
in 2024.
A total of 4 971
non-EU nationals
were resettled
under EU schemes
in 2024.
The European
Defence Fund
awarded total EU
support of
EUR 1.12 billion to
61 defence
industrial
cooperation
projects by
December 2024.
Humanitarian aid,
sustainable
development,
stability and EU
economic and
political
cooperation with
130 non-EU
countries across
the world.
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports.
(
59
)
The amount of the Commission’s relevant expenditure corresponds to the payments made in
2024 minus the pre-
financing paid out in 2024, plus the pre-financing paid out in previous years and cleared in 2024 (for definitions and
more details, see Annex 5). This amount does not include the payments made in the context of the Recovery and
Resilience Facility, which are covered in Annex 3.
60
( )
It should be noted that the European Development Fund has been incorporated into the EU’s general budget for the
2021-2027 multiannual financial framework.
77
European public administration
EUR 11.6 billion (6.5%)
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–
Internal control and financial management
Under the EU budget, shared management with Member States (especially expenditure on cohesion policy and
agriculture), whereby Member States’ bodies selected projects, distributed funds and managed expenditure in
accordance with EU and national law and reported back to the Commission about the results achieved
represents the biggest share of the total expenditure. The rest of the budget was implemented either directly
by the Commission or indirectly through entrusted entities such as international organisations, the European
Investment Bank and national promotional banks. The table that follows describes the three management
modes.
2024 expenses by management mode
–
Recovery and Resilience Facility excluded and included
(excluding
Recovery and
Resilience
Facility)
Examples of
programmes/spending
Other actors involved, in
cooperation with the Commission
(including
Recovery and
Resilience
Facility)
Direct management
Funds are implemented by the Commission.
Horizon programmes; Connecting n/a (funding goes directly to the
Europe Facility; administrative
beneficiaries).
expenditure.
Indirect management
Funds are implemented in cooperation with entrusted entities.
Erasmus+; part of development
and humanitarian aid; pre-
accession assistance; external
action
Agencies, joint undertakings,
United Nations, World Bank,
European Investment Bank,
European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development,
non-EU countries, etc.
Shared management
Funds are implemented in cooperation with Member States’
national and/or regional authorities, which have the first level of
responsibility for budget implementation.
Agricultural funds; Maritime and
Fisheries Fund; European
Regional Development Fund;
Cohesion Fund; European Social
Fund and youth employment
initiative; migration, border
management and security funds.
Paying agencies for the common
agricultural policy: 72;
operational programmes for
cohesion policy funds: 431, in all
Member States for the 2014-
2020 programming period (380
for 2021-2027).
Source:
European Commission draft annual accounts 2024
–
Statement of financial performance.
In 2024, Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, emerging international conflicts and global uncertainty at the
geopolitical level continued to put pressure on the Commission’s capacity to deliver with its already scarce
resources. More than ever, this requires effective internal control to ensure the strict application of the
principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness when spending the EU budget.
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Internal control and financial management
1.2.
A robust governance system underpinning the College’s
responsibility
As the authorising officer of the Commission, the College of Commissioners is politically responsible for the
management of the EU budget and thus accountable
for the work of the Commission’s departments. The EU
budget’s governance
is built on a clear division of responsibilities between the political and management
levels; an independent internal audit supported by the Audit Progress Committee, which includes external
experts; an independent accountant; a strong commitment to performance management and compliance with
the legal framework; transparency and high ethical standards; and transparent reporting.
The Commission’s governance system and chain of accountability are tailored to its unique model of
decentralised decision-making in budget implementation. The College of Commissioners delegates the day-to-
day operational management to 51 authorising officers by delegation (
61
) who manage and steer their
departments to deliver on the objectives in their strategic plans, taking into account available resources. Each
authorising officer by delegation is accountable for the share of the EU budget implemented in their
department.
In their annual activity reports, the authorising officers by delegation report in a transparent way on the
performance and results achieved, on the functioning of their internal control systems and on the financial
management of their share of the EU budget
–
taking account of the assurance provided by Member States
under shared management and the implementing partners in indirect management. Each annual activity
report contains a declaration of assurance. It may be qualified with a reservation if an authorising officer by
delegation identifies weaknesses with a significant impact.
The annual management and performance report synthesises the annual results for the EU budget at the
Commission level, on the basis of the assurance and reservations contained in all the annual activity reports.
This report is part of the Commission’s integrated financial and accountability reporting package, which is
adopted by the College of Commissioners (
62
).
The ensuing annual budgetary discharge procedure allows the European Parliament and the Council of the
European Union to hold the Commission politically responsible for the implementation of the EU budget. The
Parliament’s decision takes into consideration the Commission’s integrated financial and accountability
reporting; the annual and special reports of the Court of Auditors, along with the
latter’s
statement of
assurance on the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of underlying transactions; the
hearings of Commissioners and Directors-General; and a recommendation from the Council.
These robust governance arrangements help the College of Commissioners to deliver on the Commission’s
objectives, to use resources efficiently and effectively and to ensure that the EU budget is implemented in
accordance with the principles of sound financial management. An overview is presented in the chart below.
(
61
)
The term ‘authorising officers by delegation’ covers Directors-General
of the Commission and heads of executive
agencies, offices, services, task forces, etc. Article 74(1) of the Financial Regulation (Regulation (EU, Euratom)
2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to
the general budget of the Union (OJ L, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024, ELI:
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/2509/oj)
states
that: ‘The
authorising officer shall be responsible in the Union institution concerned for implementing revenue and
expenditure in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, including through ensuring reporting on
performance, and for ensuring compliance with the requirements of legality and regularity and equal treatment of
recipients.’
(
62
) As required by Article 253 of the Financial Regulation, the integrated financial and accountability reporting package
also includes the final consolidated annual accounts of the EU, the report on the follow-up to the budgetary
discharge for the previous financial year, the annual report to the discharge authority on internal audits carried out
and the long-term forecast of future inflows and outflows of the EU budget covering the next five years.
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Commission’s
assurance-building and accountability for the EU budget: clear roles and responsibilities
Annex 2
–
Internal control and financial management
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Internal control and financial management
1.3.
A reinforced internal control framework contributing to the
achievement of the Commission’s objectives in an evolving
environment
A mature internal control framework further adapted to new
instruments
1.3.1.
The Commission relies on a strong corporate internal control framework based on the highest
international standards.
It also employs a robust risk management policy to identify, assess and manage
risks at every level of the organisation, in order to provide assurance about the achievement of its objectives.
In 2024, the Commission continued to ensure that the amounts allocated from the EU budget were invested
for their intended purpose in strict compliance with the financial rules, in order to minimise, detect and
prevent errors, avoid double funding, prevent fraud, enhance transparency and pave the way to the discharge.
Overall, in 2024, the Commission departments concluded that the internal control principles
underlying their internal control systems were present and working as intended and stable over
the years
(see graph below) even if minor improvements are needed in some areas. This overall
assessment confirmed that the Commission departments continued their efforts to address the deficiencies in
their internal control systems identified in 2023. Progress made in 2024 resulted from, among other things,
improvement of payment time and average time to reply to requests to access to documents, adoption of
local strategies in various areas (e.g. human resources, anti-fraud), better participation in learning activities in
some departments, adoption of a business continuity plan and relocation plan, and improvement of the
quality of some information provided on local intranets.
For some internal control principles, improvements are still needed, corresponding mostly to
minor deficiencies.
Similarly to previous years, these are mainly due to ongoing audit recommendations for
which action plans have been developed and implementation has already started, producing mitigating
effects to varying degrees but not yet fully (e.g. further improvement of control startegies the specificities of
some programmes). The departments concerned as well as the areas for improvement vary from one year to
another. This is the reason why variations over the years remain maginal. An overview of these areas is
provided by the Internal Audit Service (see annex 6).
The principles that are
considered ‘partially effective’
are related to external factors. This assessment is
inherent to the instable political situation in certain non-EU countries and regions where the operations are
taking place. This heightened volatility prevents the full implementation of standard monitoring, evaluation
and control activities without discontinuing urgent and essential delivery of financial assistance.
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Internal control and financial management
Assessment of the functioning of the components and internal control principles
(*)
(*) The number of Commission departments reporting that internal control components and principles were upheld and functioned
properly in 2023 and 2024.
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports.
Commission departments, with the support of the Central Financial Service, continued to
enhance, update and fine-tune their internal control systems where necessary.
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Internal control and financial management
As part of the EU’s digital agenda, and to streamline internal processes, the Commission has developed a
Central Register of Internal Control Systems that brings together most of the information on the
functioning of the internal control systems of its departments. Building on its successful roll-out in 2023,
the Commission enhanced the effectiveness and efficiency of the tool by introducing new features to
improve security and efficiency. Other EU organisations seeking to stengthen their own internal control
environments have also started to use the tool.
In 2024, DG Budget reinforced the operational excellence of its
treasury
function with the successful
implementation of the new ISO 20022 banking industry standard applicable to bank messaging solutions.
In February 2024, the Commission adopted an enhanced corporate strategy for the management of its
debtors. Going beyond previous measures to prevent, as far as possible, doubtful or even bad debts, the
strategy introduced four strategic measures to speed up the recovery process: recovery performance
standards; transparent compliance monitoring and reporting; reinforced accountability with corporate
escalation mechanisms; and synergies and efficiencies brought about by partial centralisation (including
combined waiver decisions). Efficiencies were brought about by the partial centralisation of processes
linked to waivers, with the adoption of one combined waiver decision in 2024 covering 99 debts.
1.3.2.
An enhanced framework for the risk management of financial
operations
In parallel, the Commission also enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of the borrowing and
lending operations underpinning the financing of policy programmes,
such as NextGenerationEU,
support for Ukraine through the macrofinancial assistance programme (macrofinancial assistance plus and
Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism) and ongoing support for other neighbouring countries. The launch of a
unified funding approach in January 2023 enabled the Commission to extend the benefits of the more
flexible and cost-efficient debt management strategy used for financing NextGenerationEU to other
borrowing and lending programmes. The Commission completed its funding programme for 2024, raising a
total of EUR 318.1 billion over the course of the year. The 2024 issuance brought the total outstanding
amount of EU bonds to EUR 578.2 billion by year end, with EUR 68.2 billion issued in the form of
NextGenerationEU green bonds.
Since the NextGenerationEU borrowing programme was launched at the end of 2021, the
EU’s
financial operations have expanded significantly
–
in volume and in scope.
Budgetary guarantees
and loans to achieve the EU’s policy objectives, funded through the issuance of debt securities, have been
used on a large scale to tackle emerging challenges and successive crises. In this context, the Commission has
appointed a Chief Risk Officer to devise and implement an appropriate risk management and compliance
framework to protect the financial interests of the EU and to ensure that the various risks stemming from the
borrowing operations are adequately identified, managed and mitigated. This framework has been continually
enhanced by putting in place processes, control points and risk oversight across all the core borrowing and
lending activities, including funding planning, execution of borrowing transactions, liquidity management, cost
calculation and allocation.
Taking into account the increased complexities and scale of all EU financial operations, the
Commission needed to evolve quickly towards a more comprehensive and sophisticated risk
management framework, aligned with best practices.
This was achieved at the beginning of 2025 by
extending the Chief Risk Officer’s role beyond the EU’s
borrowing
and related lending and debt management
operations to asset management operations, budgetary guarantees and financial assistance to non-EU
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–
Internal control and financial management
countries (
63
). In line with best practices, the Commission has implemented the
‘three
lines of defence’ risk
management model:
•
the first line of defence is composed of the directorates-general responsible for the
EU’s
financial
operations in line with the Financial Regulation, which should implement sound financial risk
management processes and ensure compliance with the risk management framework;
the Chief Risk Officer acts as the second line of defence at the corporate level and is responsible for
establishing a common financial risk management framework for all of the EU’s
financial operations
and independent risk assessment and reporting;
the third line of defence is the Internal Audit Service, which exercises its role in line with Article 118
of the Financial Regulation.
•
•
The Commission is now developing the framework governing financial risk management and compliance for
the various categories of the EU’s
financial operations.
(
63
) Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2025/369 of 21 February 2025 establishing the role of the Chief Risk Officer
overseeing the financial risks arising from the Union’s financial operations,
OJ L, 2025/369, 25.2.2025, ELI:
http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2025/369/oj.
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Internal control and financial management
1.4.
Multiannual control strategies to ensure that expenditure is
legal and regular
Authorising officers, as managers of the EU budget, put in place multiannual control strategies
to prevent, detect and correct errors.
In line with their responsibility to carry out individual payments,
they need to build their assurance from the bottom up and in detail (i.e. by programme or other relevant
segment of expenditure). This allows the Commission to detect weaknesses and errors in a detailed and
differentiated manner for each programme or segment of expenditure; to identify the root causes of systemic
errors (e.g. the complexity of rules in certain policy areas, such as research or cohesion); to take targeted and
proportionate corrective measures; and to ensure that lessons learned are used to improve the management
and control systems and the design of future financial programmes.
EU spending programmes are multiannual by design, and so are the related control strategies.
This
implies that the detection and correction of errors may take place continually, until programme closure.
Moreover, the control strategies are risk differentiated (i.e. they are adjusted to the characteristics and risks
associated with different management modes, actors involved, policy areas and/or funding arrangements).
Control strategies usually entail preventive controls (ex
ante
controls) carried out before the Commission
payment takes place and corrective controls (ex
post
controls) carried out after the payment has been made.
The approach for cost-based expenditure, and for expenditure where an error rate is determined, is presented
in the visual below.
The Commission’s key
preventive and corrective mechanisms are detailed in Annex 5.
The European Commission’s multiannual control cycle
Source:
European Commission.
For cost-based instruments, risk at payment and risk at closure are determined at different
points in time,
as explained in the visual below.
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Risk at payment and risk at closure
For additional information regarding the 2024 risk at payment and at closure, see Section 2.1 below and
Annex 5, Sections 5.1 and 5.2.
For performance-based payments, representing most of the support provided under the common
agricultural policy 2023-2027, the sequence of controls remains similar to the one described
above, with a focus on the functioning of the systems in place in the Member States and systems
audits,
both from the national audit authorities and from the Commission.
Regarding the other funding programmes for the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework,
the Commission has further adjusted control strategies in relation to programme specificities.
For example, the increase in the use of lump-sum grants in the research and innovation programme has
triggered a necessary adaptation of the Horizon Europe control strategy.
The Commission’s Central Financial
Service has supported the Commission departments in these initiatives.
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1.5.
Fight against fraud: the Commission’s anti-fraud
strategy and
further proposals
Implementation of the Commission’s anti-fraud
strategy action plan
1.5.1.
The Commission has zero tolerance for fraud.
Pursuant to Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning
of the European Union, the Commission and the Member States protect the EU budget from fraud and other
illegal activities. The Commission’s 2019
anti-fraud strategy
(
64
) plays a significant role in preventing the
possible misuse of EU money. The strategy is accompanied by an action plan, revised in 2023 (
65
), including
44 measures
under seven themes that cover the Commission’s priorities in fighting fraud. The European Anti-
Fraud Office coordinates and monitors the implementation of the plan, and leads approximately half of the
measures. Throughout 2024, Commission services and the European Anti-Fraud Office made progress in the
implementation of measures under each objective.
In 2024 the European Anti-Fraud Office further supported
Commission services
in the design of their anti-
fraud strategies and ensured coordination and cooperation across services on anti-fraud matters through the
Fraud Prevention and Detection Network.
The European Anti-Fraud Office continued its
strategic analytical work,
notably through analyses of the
detection and reporting of irregularities and fraud in different sectors and of the impact of and vulnerability
to fraud in the various areas of cohesion policy. The 2023
annual report on the protection of the EU’s
financial interests (
66
), adopted on 25 July 2024, included for the first time a qualitative assessment of the
national anti-fraud strategies. The European Anti-Fraud Office also continued to cooperate with Member
States on anti-fraud matters in the context of the Advisory Committee for the Coordination of Fraud
Prevention and with the Anti-Fraud Coordination Services of EU Member States, candidate countries and
potential candidate countries.
The European Anti-Fraud Office also continued to perform
investigative activities,
reporting on them in its
annual report (
67
). As a result of its investigative work, in 2024 the European Anti-Fraud Office recommended
the recovery of EUR 871.5 million, and EUR 43.5 million was recommended to be prevented from being unduly
spent.
1.5.2.
Other tools to increase the efficiency of the fight against fraud
As part of the fight against fraud, cybersecurity is very high on the Commission’s
agenda.
EU
entities are required to establish, by 8 April 2025, a cybersecurity risk management, governance and control
framework, based on an initial cybersecurity review (
68
).
(
64
) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social
Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the Court of Auditors
–
Commission anti-fraud strategy action plan
–
2023 revision, COM(2023) 405 final, 11 July 2023,
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52023DC0405.
65
( ) Commission staff working document
–
Action plan
–
2023 revision, SWD(2023) 245 final, 11 July 2023,
https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52023SC0245&qid=1747126601079.
(
66
) Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament
–
35th annual report on the protection of
the European Union financial interests and the fight against fraud, COM(2024) 318 final, 25 July 2024,
https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52024DC0318&qid=1747055395142.
67
( ) European Commission: European Anti-Fraud Office,
‘Annual
OLAF reports’, European Anti-Fraud Office website,
https://anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu/about-us/reports/annual-olaf-reports_en.
68
( ) Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2023/2841 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2023 laying
down measures for a high common level of cybersecurity at the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the
Union, OJ L, 2023/2841, 18.12.2023, ELI:
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2841/oj
(entry into force January 2024).
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This initial cybersecurity review, based on the existing cybersecurity governance, monitoring and reporting
framework in the Commission, has confirmed the good cybersecurity posture of the Commission: attack
attempts have so far been successfully contained and their impact has been limited, despite the increased
number of incidents. Nevertheless, the Commission remains an attractive target. The current geopolitical
context creates new motives for cyber-threat actors who exploit technical and human vulnerabilities in
increasingly sophisticated ways. This requires continuous improvement and upscaling of the Commission’s
capabilities and awareness to ensure appropriate levels of protection. The resulting priorities are integrated
into the recently endorsed 2025-2026 corporate cybersecurity strategy.
In September 2024, the recast Financial Regulation introduced several changes regarding the
early detection and exclusion system,
which is part of the framework for fraud prevention and the fight
against fraud. These changes aim to (1) promote the use of the early detection and exclusion system; (2)
enhance its effectiveness; and (3) make the system more efficient. Improvements include the introduction of
an expedited procedure; new exclusion grounds, such as the refusal to cooperate in investigations; and the
possibility to exclude affiliated entities and beneficial owners of a primary excluded entity from bidding for
public contracts, and ultimately from obtaining EU funds for a number of years. The Financial Regulation
(recast) extends the application of the early detection and exclusion system to beneficiaries under shared
management and to future instruments in direct management with Member States, with a proportionate and
targeted approach.
As from 1 January 2028, Member States will have the obligation to check the
early detection and exclusion system database with regard to direct applicants, participants and
beneficiaries.
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1.6.
The conditionality regime is being implemented
The regulation on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the EU budget
(
69
)
(Conditionality Regulation), adopted in December 2020, protects the budget from breaches of the
principles of the rule of law
that affect or seriously risk affecting the financial interests of the EU in a
sufficiently direct way. The Conditionality Regulation came into effect on 1 January 2021 and complements
other procedures established by EU legislation for the protection of the EU budget. The validity of the
Conditionality Regulation was fully upheld by the Court of Justice of the European Union in two judgments
from 2022 (
70
). Following those judgments, the Commission adopted its guidelines on the application of the
Conditionality Regulation (
71
).
The Commission has been monitoring the situation across all Member States under the
Conditionality Regulation since January 2021.
The Commission will trigger the procedure under the
Conditionality Regulation if all its conditions are fulfilled.
On 15 December 2022, following a proposal from the Commission, the Council adopted measures
for the protection of the EU budget under the Conditionality Regulation in the case of Hungary.
The Council decided to suspend 55% of the budgetary commitments for three programmes (
72
) under
cohesion policy, corresponding to an amount of approximately EUR 6.4 billion in total for the 2021-2027
period, and prohibited the Commission from entering into new legal commitments with public interest trusts
or entities maintained by them (many of which are universities) under any EU programme directly or indirectly
managed by the Commission. The prohibition regarding the second measure has been challenged before the
General Court of the European Union (the case is still pending).
In line with the Conditionality Regulation,
in the absence of any written notification from Hungary on
new remedial measures to address the outstanding concerns, the Commission reassessed the
situation on 13 December 2023.
It concluded that the EU budget remained at the same level of risk and
that the budgetary measures taken at the end of 2022 by the Council should not be adapted or lifted. In a
parallel process under the rules of the Common Provisions Regulation (
73
), the Commission considered that
Hungary had adequately addressed some of the issues that led to
Hungary’s non-compliance
with one of its
horizontal enabling conditions as regards issues of judicial independence. Therefore, this resulted in the
unblocking of a portion of the funds for Hungary under the Common Provisions Regulation.
On 2 December 2024, Hungary formally notified the Commission about specific legislative amendments
regarding public interest trusts and entities maintained by them, formally requesting that the Commission
propose the adapting or lifting of the protective measure regarding public interest trusts to the Council.
(
69
) Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on a
general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget, OJ L 433, 22.12.2020, p. 1, ELI:
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2020/2092/oj.
(
70
) See judgments of the Court of Justice of 16 February 2022,
Hungary
v
Parliament and Council,
C-156/21,
ECLI:EU:C:2022:97, and
Poland
v
Parliament and Council,
C-157/21, ECLI:EU:C:2022:98.
71
( ) Communication from the Commission
–
Guidelines on the application of the Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 on
a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget, 2022/C 123/02, 18 March 2022,
https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022XC0318(02).
72
( ) The environmental and energy efficiency operational programme plus, the integrated transport operational
programme plus and the territorial and settlement development operational programme plus.
73
( ) Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common
provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just
Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the
Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for
Border Management and Visa Policy, OJ L 231, 30.6.2021, ELI:
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/1060/oj.
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The Commission concluded that the legislative amendments did not adequately remedy the
grounds that had led to the adoption of the measure
and therefore did not propose any lifting or
adaptation of the protective measures to the Council in its Decision of 16 December 2024 (
74
).
The Commission reported on the application of the regulation on 12 January 2024.
The report
focused on (1) the measures taken by the Commission in the application of the regulation, including the
procedure opened in the case of Hungary; (2) the complementarity of the regulation with other relevant
instruments, such as the Common Provisions Regulation;
(3) the Commission’s evaluation of the effectiveness
of the measures adopted so far; and (4) the overall effectiveness of the procedure set out by the
Conditionality Regulation. The report preliminarily confirmed the effectiveness and the potential of the
protective measures adopted under the Hungarian case.
In January 2024,
the Court of Auditors published an audit on the rule of law in the EU,
focusing on
the Conditionality Regulation, its interplay with the Recovery and Resilience Facility and conditionality under
cohesion policy rules. The audit report (
75
) made positive observations overall on the handling of the
Conditionality Regulation and the proceedings regarding Hungary. Most
of the Court’s recommendations
were
accepted and are being implemented, for instance finishing its development of a case-management system,
CASE@EC, to manage and document the workflow for the decisions and measures taken.
(
74
) Commission Decision of 16.12.2024 pursuant to Article 7(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the
Union budget, concerning a written notification from Hungary with regard to Article 2(2) of Council Implementing
Decision (EU) 2022/2506 of 15 December 2022, C(2024) 9140 final.
75
( ) European Court of Auditors,
The Rule of Law in the EU
– An improved framework to protect the EU’s financial
interests, but risks remain
–
Special report 03/2024,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2024,
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2865/00087.
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1.7.
The Financial Regulation (recast) entered into force in 2024
The Financial Regulation (recast) was adopted on 23 September 2024 and entered into force on
30 September 2024. The
changes adapt the EU’s financial rules to a changed world
by introducing
clearer and more flexible rules for procurement in crisis situations; provide a centralised website for
transparency on the use of EU budget, which will cover all management modes as from 2028; bring
simplification in the form of very-low-value grants (under EUR 15 000); and protect the EU budget against
fraud, corruption or conflicts of interest by extending the early detection and exclusion system to shared
management as from 2028. Several provisions will apply only as from 2028.To reflect the changes in the
Financial Regulation, the revised internal rules of the Commission were adopted on 30 September 2024 (
76
).
Use of the single data-mining and risk-scoring tool
–
Arachne
Following the adoption of the Financial Regulation (recast) in September 2024, Article 36 of the
Financial Regulation requires a modernised data-mining and risk-scoring tool, to be used in all
management modes. The existing data-mining and risk-scoring tool, Arachne, on which the future tool
will be based, is already used by Commission services and by a number of Member States on a
voluntary basis in shared management and for the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Compulsory
feeding of the tool with data will be required from all Member States as from the next financial
framework, starting in 2028.
In 2024 the Commission continued with preparatory work for the new system, e.g. looking at users’
needs and data protection.To prepare for the possibility of compulsory use by Member States of this
modernised data-mining and risk-scoring tool after 2027, the Commission set up a group of experts,
including at least one representative per Member State, to provide assistance and support in designing
the modernised tool. It should, in particular, assist with the preparation of a readiness assessment of
the tool, which is to be presented by the Commission by 2027. On that basis, the possibility of
compulsory use of the tool by Member States may be discussed again by the co-legislators.
(
76
) Commission Decision of 30.9.2024 on the internal rules for the implementation of the Commission section of the
general budget of the European Union, C(2024) 6814 final, 30 September 2024.
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2.
Cost-effective controls protecting the EU
budget
To ensure that controls remain cost-effective, the Commission aims to strike the right balance between the
following.
•
Effectiveness.
The level of error found, based on the
controls carried out, which allows the expenditure to be
grouped into different risk categories.
Efficiency.
The average time taken to make a payment.
Beyond this, the Commission is also constantly looking for
and developing new ways to increase efficiency, notably by
creating synergies wherever possible.
Economy.
The proportionality between the costs of controls
and the funds managed.
•
•
Cost-effectiveness is obtained through differentiation of the controls: riskier areas trigger a higher level of
scrutiny and/or frequency of controls, whereas low-risk areas should lead to controls that are less intensive,
less costly and less burdensome. Other ways to ensure the cost-effectiveness of controls include reducing the
risk of errors through simplified rules and processes, such as simplified cost options (i.e. lump sums, flat rates
and unit costs), cross-reliance on existing assessments, and audits and controls performed by other entities
and achieving economies of scale by pooling the control functions.
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2.1.
The Commission’s control results confirm that the EU budget is
well protected
Overall results for 2024
2.1.1.
In 2024, with most of the common agricultural policy expenditure implemented under a
performance-based policy framework, the Commission used a new indicator for the control
results for this type of expenditure: the share of low-risk expenditure.
In addition, and as a consequence of the change for agriculture, control results are now
presented at the level of the individual multiannual financial framework headings and not
for the entire EU budget, and there is no longer an indicator at the level of the Commission
as a whole.
For cost-based payments, the Commission considers that the budget is effectively protected
when, at the latest by the closure of the programmes (i.e. when all controls, corrections and
recoveries have been implemented), the risk at closure is below 2%.
This is the same materiality
threshold as used by the Court of Auditors. For more details on these concepts and the methodology used to
determine these estimates, along with the control results for each policy area, see Annex 5. Based on the
audits and controls carried out, each year the Commission departments estimate the level of risk for the
legality and regularity of EU spending at two stages of the multiannual control cycle: at payment and at
closure of the programmes.
Source:
European Commission.
Until 2023, this was the only indicator used to measure the level of protection of the EU budget that was also
used for the entire Commission. This indicator will continue to be applied wherever payments are cost based
and for those headings under which payments are cost based, thus for 2024 headings 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Regarding the new CAP 2023-2027, for performance-based expenditure, the focus is on
performance, based on the achievement of results, and on the proper functioning of the
governance systems in the Member States.
Member States no longer report to the Commission on
control statistics at the
beneficiaries’ level.
Instead of determining an error rate and a risk at payment, the
Commission groups the corresponding expenditure in three categories of risk (low, medium and high), based
on the assessment of the functioning of the systems in place in the Member States to ensure both the
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legality and regularity of the underlying transactions and the quality of performance results. Because of this
new approach, no risk at payment can be determined for the multiannual financial framework heading
‘natural
resources and environment’, since 74.8% of the expenditure of the heading now corresponds to
performance-based expenditure. Also, because of this change, no risk at payment may be determined for the
whole Commission anymore. The reporting is done per multiannual financial framework heading.
Overview of risk at payment and risk at closure for compliance-based expenditure
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports for 2024.
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For 2024, all headings, except for cohesion, have a risk at payment and a risk at closure
below 2%, and heading 3 on natural resources and environment, including the agriculture
payments, has a share of low-risk payments of 77%, above the average for 2018-2023 of
64%. The corresponding expenditure is thus well protected.
The cohesion heading has a risk at payment above 2% and a risk at closure below 2%. For
this heading, the Commission is continuing its efforts to further reduce the level of risk at
the time of payment.
To allow for comparability and to have an overview, the information is presented for each heading by level of
risk (low, medium or high
–
see Section 2.1.2), and for the entire Commission (see next visual).
Overview of expenditure per risk category
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports for 2024.
This new approach has no impact on preventive and corrective measures that continue to be applied.
Total preventive and corrective measures
(Commission and Member States): EUR 2.6 billion
(EUR 3.8 billion in 2023).
Reservations:
18 (14 in 2023), of which 17 related to expenditure from the EU budget with a total
financial impact of EUR 330.9 million (EUR 1 290.6 million in 2023) and one related to expenditure
from the Resilience and Recovery Facility with a financial impact of EUR 17.5 million. See Section 3.1
and Annex 5, Section 5.3 for more details.
2.1.2.
Control results by lower-, medium- and higher-risk programme
segments
The Commission has reliable, evidence-based information showing the diversified situation of
the funds it manages.
It identifies which programmes or segments of expenditure are higher risk, allowing
it to efficiently provide its support and address specific weaknesses even for policies that, taken globally, are
lower risk, such as the common agricultural policy.
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For cost-based expenditure, the split between the categories of risk is based on the risk at
payment
(i.e. before any future correction is implemented): lower risk
–
risk at payment below 2.0%; medium
risk
–
risk at payment between 2.0% and 2.5%; and higher risk
–
risk at payment above 2.5%. For cohesion,
this analysis is also applied at the level of the individual programmes in the Member States.
Performance-based expenditure is split between the low-, medium- and high-risk categories
according to the assessment of the functioning of the systems in the paying agencies at the
intervention level.
As a result, the new approach for common agricultural policy expenditure allows for an
enhanced granularity of the control results for this expenditure, since information on the weaknesses and
deficiencies is at a lower than paying-agency level.
The European Commission’s categorisation of expenditure into lower-, medium- and higher-risk
segments, as a percentage of the total relevant expenditure for 2024
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports for 2024.
•
Lower risk.
Expenditure in this category amounted to EUR 97.2 billion in 2024 representing 54.8%
of the total expenditure, compared to 66.6% of expenditure in 2023). The decrease of the amount in
the lower risk category compared with 2023 is related to cohesion programmes that have been,
conservatively, set at a medium risk (2%) even when their error rates were lower. This prudent
approach was taken due to Member States using the possibility to deliver their final assurance after
2024 (see below). This lower risk category includes the majority of expenditure managed under the
new performance-based model in place for the common agricultural policy 2023-2027 (1 306
interventions out of a total of 1 526) and, outside the new common agricultural policy, expenditure
managed by 50 out of 70 paying agencies for rural development. Similarly to previous years, it also
includes expenditure relating to the European Research Council grants under Horizon 2020 and the
Connecting Europe Facility
–
transport and Connecting Europe Facility
–
energy programmes;
Erasmus+;
the Marie Skłodowska-Curie
actions; contributions to other EU bodies (the European
Union Agency for the Space Programme, the European Space Agency, Fusion for Energy joint
undertaking, etc.); the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund; the Internal Security Fund;
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humanitarian aid; Horizon Europe financial instruments; expenditure in the neighbourhood and the
world policy area; and administrative expenditure in general.
•
Medium risk.
Expenditure in this category amounted to EUR 43.7 billion in 2024 (24.4% of
expenditure compared with 9.2% in 2023). This increase is mainly due to the cohesion policy funds,
where a conservative flat rate of 2% was applied for many programmes, even if the estimated error
rates were lower. This was done as a prudent approach, in response to the fact that only a limited
number of assurance packages for the 2014-2020 period were received (as Member States were
granted an extra year to submit them by the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform Regulation),
as well as for the 2021-2027 period, where programmes are still in the early stages of
implementation. This category also included expenditure in research and innovation in particular in
relation to grants under the new Horizon Europe, and under the Connecting Europe Facility
–
transport programme for the 2021-2027 period, expenditure from the European Maritime and
Fisheries Fund (six programmes out of 27), as well as expenditure related to the common
agricultural policy (152 interventions out of a total of 1 526 for performance-based expenditure).
Higher risk.
Expenditure in this category amounted to EUR 38.2 billion in 2024 (21.3% of
expenditure, similar to 2023, 24.2%). This includes mainly and some expenditure declared under
cohesion policy funds with a higher risk at payment or with serious deficiencies (
77
) and some
expenditure declared under the common agricultural policy.
•
The Commission’s detailed analysis
confirms that the level of error and share of high-risk
expenditure are closely related to the nature of the funding.
Most programmes or segments of
expenditure,
corresponding to more than 50% of the year’s relevant expenditure,
are estimated in the lower-
risk category because they encompass more entitlement-based payments. On the other hand, some
programmes or segments of expenditure with complex reimbursement-based rules appear to have a
relatively higher risk at payment (as is typically the case under cohesion policy, with many applicable national,
regional or programme rules in addition to EU rules). Nevertheless, the control systems in place allow the risks
related to some of the more complex programmes to be mitigated and, as a result, the level of risk at
payment to be reduced.
The Commission is closely monitoring the risks at payment and at closure for the various
programmes and segments of expenditure and is taking further action to reduce them.
For the
medium- and higher-risk categories in particular, the Commission is continually looking for ways to further
decrease them
by raising beneficiaries’ and implementing partners’ awareness of issues, adjusting the control
strategies where necessary, applying the lessons learned to future programmes and simplifying rules
wherever possible.
(
77
) In the case of the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries
Fund, the level of risk has also been considered high, irrespective of the risk at payment, when the audit opinion
issued in the annual activity reports on the functioning of the management and control system of the programmes
was either adverse or qualified.
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2.1.3.
Control results by policy area
The
Annual Management and Performance Report for the EU Budget
is a summary of the annual activity
reports of the 51 Commission departments. The spending covered in each of these reports is allocated in full
to one of the seven headings of the multiannual financial framework. Since 2022, considering its size, the
spending
for ‘security and defence’ of DG Defence Industry and Space was divided between heading
1 and
heading 5. The situation for each policy area is described below.
Heading 1
–
single market, innovation and digital
Total relevant expenditure:
EUR 24.2 billion (2022: EUR 19.1 billion).
Risk at payment:
1.6% (2023: 1.4%).
Risk at closure:
1.2% (2023: 1.0%).
Total preventive and corrective measures:
EUR 348.5 million (2023: EUR 149.8 million):
•
•
preventive measures: EUR 244.7 million (2023: EUR 121.1 million);
corrective measures: EUR 103.8 million (2023: EUR 28.6 million).
Reservation:
one reputational reservation without financial impact (same as in 2023) (
78
).
In 2024, the risks at both payment and closure
increased
slightly, by 0.2 percentage points,
compared to 2023, to
reach 1.6% for the risk at payment and 1.2% for risk at
closure. This is due to the increase in the risk at payment for
grants under Horizon 2020, from 2.57% in 2023 to 3.55% in
2024, as the corresponding expenditure still represents one
third of the total expenditure under this heading, even if the
share of expenditure from the 2014-2020 multiannual
programming period (all programmes together) is decreasing
(from 56% in 2023 to almost 40% in 2024). The risk at
closure for this expenditure remains below the 2%
materiality threshold (at 1.59%).
It should be noted that the increase in the risk at payment
for this heading is also explained by the
increase in the
share of expenditure from the 2021-2027
programming period
(from less than 6% in 2023 to more
than 21% in 2024), and
in particular of Horizon Europe
(from 1.9% in 2023 to 17.8% in 2024). For this expenditure
there was no representative error rate for 2024 as the
ex
post
audit campaign was only launched in the second half of
2024, once a meaningful number of payments was available. As a result,
the conservative approach
applied in 2023 was maintained in 2024 by using a flat rate of 2% for the risk at payment.
To a
lesser extent, the same holds true for the digital Europe programme. The incidence of this approach is
particularly visible in the graph below, with an increase of the share of the medium-risk segment of
expenditure in 2024 (segment between 2% and below 2.5%).
(
78
) The concerned programme (The Promotion of Agricultural products) is funded by European Agricultural Guarantee
Fund which is currently under Budget Heading 3
–
Natural resources and environment, however it is reported under
Heading 1
–
Single market, innovation and digital for consistency with previous reports.
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For Horizon 2020, as in previous years, and despite ongoing efforts and improvements,
the risk at
payment remained above 2% because of the inherent complexity of the rules. More specifically, in 2024,
there was an increasing share of final payments for Horizon 2020, which are more error prone than interim
payments as they often correspond to larger and more complex projects. Similar to previous years, the
research departments did not qualify their declarations of assurance with a reservation in relation to the
Horizon 2020 programme (
79
).
For Horizon Europe, structural improvements leading to fewer errors are expected in the medium
term from the a higher share of grants using lump sums or simplified cost options.
The objective is
to use lump-sum funding for 50% of the budget for calls for proposals by the end of 2027. Given the cycle of
payments, it is likely that the impact on the level of risk at payment will start to show modestly in the coming
years and will be more significant as from 2029.
The Commission has defined and is implementing other measures to simplify the rules with a view
to reducing the error rates in Horizon Europe.
Beyond the use of simplified forms of funding (lump sums
and unit costs), these measures include targeting more
‘error-prone’
types of beneficiaries (such as small and
medium-sized enterprises and newcomers) with communication campaigns and improving the training
provided to external audit firms performing audits on behalf of the Commission. By focusing on the most
common errors, these measures should have a positive impact while remaining cost-effective.
The only reservation issued in 2023 was maintained in 2024.
This reservation concerns the promotion
of agricultural products programmes and was issued due to irregularities in the subcontracting process. As
anticipated in 2023, the financial risk has now materialised, as shown in the control results with an error rate
of 3.89% (2.32% after deduction of the corrections already made). Additional audits and European Anti-Fraud
Office investigations are ongoing. Mitigating measures have been taken and are being implemented to
prevent similar situations from happening in the future. However, it will still take time for the all the
necessary corrections to be implemented.
As far as preventive and corrective measures are concerned, the increase is mainly due to the increased
number and amount of interim and final payments, and to a limited number of high-value cases, notably a
one-off, particularly important recovery in the Connection Europe Facility programme following a
Commission audit.
(
79
) Proposal for a Council decision establishing the specific programme implementing Horizon 2020
–
The framework
programme for research and innovation (2014-2020), COM(2011) 811 final, 30 November 2011,
https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52011PC0811&qid=1747145040788.
The risk at payment minus corrections implemented remains within the agreed materiality threshold of between 2%
and 5% envisaged in
the legislative financial statement accompanying the Commission’s proposal, which states that
‘The Commission considers therefore that, for research spending under Horizon
2020, a risk of error, on an annual
basis, within a range between 2-5 % is a realistic objective taking into account the costs of controls, the
simplification measures proposed to reduce the complexity of rules and the related inherent risk associated to the
reimbursement of costs of the research project. The ultimate aim for the residual level of error at the closure of the
programmes after the financial impact of all audits, correction and recovery measures will have been taken into
account is to achieve a level as close as possible to 2
%.’
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Multiannual financial framework heading 1
–
single market, innovation and digital
–
overview
of risk segmentation for 2022-2024
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports for 2024.
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Heading 2
–
cohesion, resilience and values
Total relevant expenditure:
EUR 62.0 billion (2023: EUR 67.3 billion).
Risk at payment:
2.9% (2023: 2.6%).
Risk at closure:
1.7% (2023: 1.2%).
Total preventive and corrective measures
(Commission and Member States): EUR 1 028.6 million
(2023: EUR 2 370.9 million):
•
•
preventive measures: EUR 579.9 million (2023: EUR 1 643.7 million);
corrective measures: EUR 448.7 million (2023: EUR 727.2 million).
Reservations:
five reservations with a financial impact of EUR 73 million (2023: three reservations
with a financial impact of EUR 583 million).
The risk at payment for this heading increased from 2.6% to
2.9%, while the risk at closure increased from 1.2% to 1.7%.
The risk at payment and risk at closure were mostly driven by
the amounts paid for the cohesion policy funds (
80
) managed
under shared management, which represented around 92% of
the total relevant expenditure for this heading.
For all the cohesion policy funds, the risk at payment
remained material in the range of 2.3% to 3.2%
(
81
), an
increase from the range observed in 2023 of 1.9% to 2.8%.
The increase is mainly due to the prudent approach taken by
the Commission for expenditure corresponding to the 2014-
2020 programming period (still comprising 80% of the total
payments in 2024), in response to the fact that only a limited
number of assurance packages were received by 1 March
2025, following the amendment of the Common Provisions
Regulation by the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform
Regulation, which extended the submission period for the final
assurance packages (and therefore the audit results) to
(
80
) These include the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Social Fund, the youth
employment initiative and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived. See detail in Volume III, Annex 5,
Section 5.2.2.
81
( )
For the second consecutive year, the Commission’s risk at payment is outside the error-level
range of between 6.4%
and 12.2%, estimated by the Court of Auditors in its
2023
–
Annual reports on the implementation of the EU budget
for the 2023 financial year and on the activities funded by the 9th, 10th and 11th European Development Funds
(EDFs) for the 2023 financial year
(p. 238). The higher level of error estimated by the Court can be explained by
divergences in the interpretation of breaches of applicable rules that, in some cases, do not constitute irregularities in
the sense of the Common Provisions Regulation, for which the Commission has assessed that it would not have legal
grounds to impose financial corrections, and by differences in the methods used to quantify some errors.
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15 February 2026 (
82
). As a result, the Commission used a flat rate of 2% for all the programmes where an
assurance package was not submitted and the estimated error rate, based on incomplete audit results, was
under 2%. Similarly, a flat rate of 2% was used for the lower value of the risk at payment for all 2021-2027
programmes, due to the very limited audit results received for the accounting year 2022-2023 (
83
).
Overall, the Commission has reasonable assurance that the management and control systems
function sufficiently well for 91.5% of the programmes
(
84
).
Nevertheless, the risk at payment for
cohesion remained above the 2% materiality threshold.
This is mainly due to the inherent complexity
of the projects financed by these funds, the variety of actors concerned and the difficulty of tackling some
complex rules at both the national and the EU level, in particular those related to public procurement and
State aid. Weaknesses remain mainly at the level of managing authorities or their intermediate bodies. The
main categories of irregularities identified by the Member States’ audit authorities and the Commission are
similar to those identified by the Court of Auditors: ineligible expenditure, ineligible projects or beneficiaries,
errors in public procurement procedures and missing supporting information or documentation.
In 2022 and 2023, the difference between the Commission’s risk at payment
and the Court of
Auditors’ estimated level of error has significantly increased. This is mostly explained by
divergences in the interpretation of breaches of applicable rules.
Following this growing difference, a
study has been commissioned by the Committee on Budgetary Control of the European Parliament to
compare the Commission’s risk at payment and closure and the Court of Auditors’ estimated level of error,
focusing on cohesion funds. The recently published study makes a balanced and factual assessment of
respective methodologies, and the reasons why they lead to different outcomes in the reporting of error rates
by both institutions, notably for cohesion. It fairly reflects the work performed by both institutions, the
respective expectations their roles entail and the usefulness of the two approaches. It states that both the
Commission and the Court of Auditors use state-of-the-art methodologies, based on international audit
standards. Each methodology satisfies each institution’s needs and expectations.
The study concludes that the
error rate and risk at payment are not directly comparable.
For the cohesion funds, the Commission applied additional financial corrections for those programmes where
it confirmed individual error rates above 2%, so that the risk at closure will be ultimately below 2% for all the
programmes. Estimated future corrections corresponded to a range of 0.5-1.4%, leading to an estimated risk
at closure of 1.8%.
Preventive measures were mostly driven by operational programmes under the 2021-2027
programming period and corrective measures by operational programmes under the 2014-2020
programming period.
In relation to the cohesion funds for the 2014-2020 programming period, Member
States implemented preventive and corrective measures (
85
) attributed to the Member States’ own controls for
a total amount of EUR 211 million, which is much lower than the amount for those implemented last year, at
EUR 598 million. This is explained by the limited number (i.e. 96 out of 431) of final assurance packages
submitted by the Member States to the Commission by 1 March 2025. For the same programming period, the
Member States also implemented corrective measures attributed to
the Commission’s controls, follow-ups
to
investigations of the European Anti-Fraud Office and audits of the Court of Auditors for an amount of
EUR 70 million. In addition, for the 2007-2013 programming period, the Commission implemented corrective
measures for an amount of EUR 154 million. The implementation of the operational programmes for 2021-
(
82
) Article 14(4)
‘Amendments
to Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013’ of Regulation (EU) 2024/795:
‘in
Article 138, the
following subparagraph is added:
“By
way of derogation from the deadline set out in the first subparagraph, Member
States may submit the documents referred to under points (a), (b) and (c) for the final accounting year by
15 February 2026.”.’
83
( ) A total of 11 packages for cohesion.
(
84
) This concerns 398 out of 435 programmes for the 2014-2020 programming period.
(
85
) For the last accounting year, the corrections cannot be classified as preventive or corrective, as this distinction cannot
be made in the final accounts (no further action possible after the submission of the final accounts in next payment
applications or subsequent accounts).
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2027 programming period accelerated in 2024, reaching EUR 8 368 million, or 15% of the total expenditure
for cohesion funds. As such, it was the first year in which the Member States implemented preventive
measures for this programming period, for a total value of EUR 565 million. As it is still early, the corrective
measures for 2021-2027 were rather low (EUR 8 million).
One specific feature of the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework for the programmes under the
European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund and European Social Fund Plus is the need for Member
States to comply with a set of thematic and horizontal enabling conditions to allow for the effective
implementation of the funds.
At the end of 2024, around 96% of the applicable thematic enabling
conditions were assessed as fulfilled for the European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund
and European Social Fund Plus programmes that had been adopted.
By the end of April 2024, all
Member States except Hungary fulfilled the horizontal enabling conditions (
86
).
At the end of 2024, four reservations were issued in relation to cohesion policy funds (two per
programming period): one for the European Regional Development Fund and Cohesion Fund and
one for the European Social Fund, the youth employment initiative and the Fund for European Aid
to the Most Deprived.
These reservations concern operational programmes that presented significant
weaknesses in their management and control systems or for which the error rate was above the materiality
threshold, or, less frequently, for which the audit work at the Member State level was deemed insufficient or
unsatisfactory.
•
Two reservations for the 2014-2020 period: the number of programmes under reservation (26) was
lower than the number of programmes under reservation in 2023 (53). The financial impact
decreased from EUR 583 million to EUR 68 million because only 20% of the final assurance
packages had been submitted by 1 March 2025. As a result, fewer cases met the criteria for issuing
reservations. To prevent any assurance gap, the Commission applied appropriate flat rates and
qualifications to relevant cases. These include situations where no assurance package was
submitted, but where deficiencies in the functioning of the management and control systems were
already known to the Commission
from the prior years’ exercise or through its own audit work.
Furthermore, the absence of accounts for 80% of the 2014-2020 programmes has impacted the
relevant expenditure (the basis under which the financial impact is calculated). This resulted in non-
quantified reservations and a corresponding reduction in the financial impact of the reservations.
Two reservations for the 2021-2027 period, in relation to seven programmes, with a total financial
impact of EUR 3 million.
•
Reservations are only lifted once the system weaknesses have been addressed and the error rate is below
2%. Usually, the reasons for the reservations are not structural, and it takes one to two years for a
reservation to be lifted. For more details on reservations, see Volume III, Annex 5.
The Commission continues to take action to support programme authorities in improving their
management and control systems and to bring the risk at closure for cohesion below 2%.
In
December 2024, following a participative debate with both audit and managing authorities, the
Commission
established a jointly agreed action plan comprising 22 measures
covering the following categories:
dissemination of information to beneficiaries to improve their understanding of their obligations and rules;
analysis of errors detected, and in particular additional errors reported by EU audits; enhanced use of
information technology tools; staff training; enhanced preventive role of auditing; use of complete and
updated audit checklists; and effective audit practices in line with audit standards (e.g. documentation of
(
86
) There are four horizontal enabling conditions linked to overarching, horizontal aspects of programme implementation,
ensuring compliance with general EU principles and effective programme management (Annex 3 to the Common
Provisions Regulation).
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verifications/checks done). The implementation of these measures will be subject to continuous monitoring by
the Commission, along with each Member State’s audit authority.
Multiannual financial framework heading 2
–
cohesion, resilience and values
–
overview of risk
segmentation for 2022-2024
Note: In 2024, for cohesion, no programme is in the low-risk segment following the prudent approach of using flat rates of 2% for both
programming periods.
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports for 2024.
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Heading 3
–
natural resources and environment
Total amount of relevant expenditure:
EUR 57.4 billion (2023: EUR 58.3 billion).
•
•
Compliance-based assurance model: EUR 14.5 billion (2023: EUR 58.1 billion).
Performance-based assurance model: EUR 42.9 billion (2023: EUR 0.2 billion).
Share of low-risk expenditure:
77 % (2024), 69% (2023).
Total preventive and corrective measures
(Commission and Member States): EUR 1 069.8 million
(2023: EUR 1 157.6 million).
•
•
preventive measures: EUR 178.4 million (
87
) (2023: EUR 490.3 million);
corrective measures: EUR 891.4 million (2023: EUR 667.4 million).
Reservations:
seven reservations with a financial impact of EUR 254 million (2023: five reservations
with a financial impact of EUR 705 million).
Multiannual financial framework heading 3
–
natural resources and environment
–
overview of
risk segmentation for 2022-2024
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports for 2024.
In 2024, for natural resources and environment, 77.7 % of the expenditure was considered low
risk.
This corresponds to expenditure with a risk at payment below 2%, for compliance-based payments, and
expenditure for which the systems in place in the Member States have been assessed as low risk, functioning
well or at least functioning, for performance-based payments. This is very similar to the share of low-risk
expenditure for agriculture (77,4 %), which represents the bulk of the expenditure in this policy area (97%),
the rest corresponding to maritime and fisheries (
88
), environment and climate expenditure. This is an increase
compared to the share of low-risk expenditure in 2023 (69%), in 2022 (72%) and for 2018-2023 (an average
of 64%).
(
87
) Preventive measures for performance-based expenditure are not included in 2024 amounts.
(
88
) European Maritime and Fisheries Fund expenditure, although included under the natural resources and environment
heading, follows the same delivery mechanism as cohesion expenditure.
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The CAP 2023-2027 represents a shift from a compliance-based policy to a greater focus on
performance and results achieved.
The new CAP confers more flexibility, but also more responsibility, on
Member States. In general, Member States set the rules to be complied with by final beneficiaries in their
National Plans, in accordance with the EU general framework. The Commission focuses on evaluating the
progress towards the achievement of the results and on the functioning of the systems Member States put in
place to ensure the respect of those conditions. The Commission no longer looks at individual transactions
benefitting individual recipients. The reporting obligations for the Member States reflect these changes: in
contrast to the previous programming period, the Member States no longer report to the Commission control
statistics at the beneficiary level. Without receiving control statistics established at the beneficiary level, the
Commission is not in a position to establish an error rate at paying agency level and thus neither for the
whole CAP.
Accordingly, the Commission’s
new assurance model concentrates on performance and on the
proper functioning of the Member States’ governance systems
set up to ensure both the legality and
regularity of the underlying transactions and the quality of performance results. To conclude on the proper
functioning of the Member States’ governance systems, the Commission considers all available relevant
information, notably the assessment by the Certification Bodies, resulting in a grading of the governance
systems at paying agency and intervention level, as well as the results of its own audit findings and those of
the Court of Auditors. This may prompt the Commission to adjust the Certification Bodies’ gradings on a case-
by-case basis at the appropriate level (Paying Agency and intervention level). In parallel, risks of serious
deficiencies in the Member States’ governance systems are identified and reported.
Governance systems
are the governance bodies, including competent authorities, paying agencies,
coordinating bodies and certification bodies, that manage the common agricultural policy in the
Member States. These systems include the basic EU requirements, Member States’ obligations to
protect EU financial interests, the implementation of approved common agricultural policy strategic
plans and a reliable reporting system to monitor performance.
Intervention
refers to a specific support instrument with defined eligibility conditions, outlined in a
Member State’s common agricultural policy strategic plan, which covers interventions under both the
European Agricultural Guarantee Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
These interventions include a range of support types, such as basic income support for sustainability,
complementary income support for young farmers, eco-schemes, and sectoral support for fruit and
vegetables, apiculture and wine, along with environmental, climate-related and other management
commitments, and support for natural or area-specific constraints, among other things.
For the expenditure under the new assurance model, the Commission groups the corresponding
expenditure into three categories of risk
–
low, medium and high
–
based on the final grading (see box
below) of the systems put in place by the Member States. Certification bodies determine the grading annually
based on their qualitative assessment of the proper functioning of the systems in place (governance systems)
per intervention per paying agency to ensure that final beneficiaries comply with the applicable rules. This
grading may be adjusted by the Commission on a case-by-case basis, taking into account its own audit
findings and those of the Court of Auditors. Based on the above, expenditure is grouped into low risk, where
the final, adjusted grading is 3 or 4; medium risk, where the final, adjusted grading is 2; and high risk, where
the final, adjusted grading is 1. The Commission will issue reservations either where risks of serious
deficiencies in the Member States’ governance systems have been identified
(grading 1) or where a Member
State is behind on its milestones.
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There are four grades describing the functioning of the governance systems of the interventions:
•
•
•
•
4
–
functioning well, for governance systems for which no or very few exceptions in the tests of
controls were found;
3
–
functioning, for governance systems for which few exceptions in the tests of controls were
found;
2
–
partially functioning, for governance systems for which some exceptions in the tests of
controls were found;
1
–
not functioning, for governance systems for which several systemic exceptions in the tests of
controls were found, substantially affecting the effectiveness of controls
Reliance on the certification bodies plays a crucial role under the single audit principle that is
applied by the Commission.
As a result, it only audits paying agencies if the work of the certification bodies
cannot be relied upon. In 2024, the Commission performed 48 audits, targeting the governance systems in
place in the Member States. The same audits, where relevant, also covered the legality and regularity of
expenditure under the 2014-2022 programming period.
The corrective measures implemented in 2024, amounting to EUR 891 million, still relate to the
previous common agricultural policy system. No net financial corrections have yet been decided
for expenditure under the common agricultural policy strategic plans.
The 2024 audits showed that
Member States generally established proper governance systems for the new common agricultural policy.
Some potentially serious deficiencies were found for which conformity procedures have been opened to
confirm the deficiencies and to assess the risk to the EU budget. Conformity procedures need time to offer
the Member States the opportunity to contradict the Commission’s findings. As of
the end of 2024, no
conformity procedures had been finalised for the expenditure under the common agricultural policy strategic
plans.
For the expenditure implemented outside the strategic plans for rural development, market
measures and direct payments (22%
of this heading’s expenditure), the risk at payment
was
similar to that in 2023,
with 2.79% for rural development, 1.99% for market measures and 5.95% for
direct payments. The higher rates in line with the historical rates for the measures with expenditure in 2024
are due to the higher complexity of the rules.
Expenditure relating to fisheries, the environment and climate initiatives
– 3% of this heading’s
expenditure
–
continued to be low risk.
The estimated risk at payment for the European Maritime and
Fisheries Fund, for the 2014-2020 programming period, is 0.59% (compared to 1.37% in 2023). Although one
programme is currently under reservation, the corresponding financial corrections and safeguard measures
are being implemented. The estimated risk at payment for the 2021-2027 European Maritime, Fisheries and
Aquaculture Fund was 1.11%. Overall, the risk level has remained stable since 2021, at around 1%, which is
considered a low-risk type of expenditure. Similarly, DG Environment and DG Climate Action, with risks at
payment of 0.25% and 0.40% respectively, have low-risk expenditure profiles. Both departments mostly have
inherently low-risk types of payments (e.g. procurements, subsidies to decentralised agencies, contribution
agreements with international organisations).
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At the end of 2024, there were seven reservations for this heading, as described below.
Five recurrent reservations for segments of expenditure or programmes where control
weaknesses and/or error rates are above 2%:
•
•
•
•
•
European Agricultural Guarantee Fund market measures in relation to six aid schemes in four
Member States, quantified;
direct payments (programme of options specifically relating to remoteness and insularity) in relation
to one Member State, quantified;
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development measures in relation to 12 paying agencies in 10
Member States, quantified;
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, for management and control system weaknesses in one
Member State, non-quantified;
EU emissions trading system registry, reservation related to IT risks, non-quantified.
Two new reservations for expenditure under the common agricultural policy strategic plans
for interventions in Member States where potential serious deficiencies were identified in
the functioning of the governance systems.
Given the qualitative assessment, no financial
impact can be determined, and the reservations are not quantified. This lack of quantification
explains the significant decrease in the financial impact compared to 2023:
•
•
for expenditure that falls under the integrated administration and control system (10 reservations in
10 paying agencies for nine Member States affecting 28 interventions);
for expenditure that does not fall under the integrated administration and control system (six
reservations in six paying agencies for five Member States affecting nine interventions).
In all cases where the deficiencies identified have led to reservations, close follow-up measures are in place,
including conformity clearance procedures to ultimately protect the EU budget, monitoring of the
implementation of remedial measures taken by Member States and, where necessary, interruption or
reduction/suspension of payments to the Member States (for more details, see Volume III, Annex 5).
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Heading 4
–
migration and border management
Total amount of relevant expenditure:
EUR 3.5 billion (2023: EUR 3.0 billion).
Risk at payment:
1.3% (2023: 1.1%).
Risk at closure:
1.2% (2023: 1.0%).
Total corrective and preventive measures
(Commission and Member States): EUR 45.5 million
(2023: EUR 2.5 million):
•
•
preventive measures implemented by the Commission: EUR 13.6 million (2023: EUR 1.3 million);
corrective measures implemented by the Commission: EUR 1.1 million (2023: EUR 1.1 million).
Reservations:
two reservations with a financial impact of EUR 3.4 million (2023: two reservations
with a financial impact of EUR 0.8 million).
For migration and border management (
89
), the risk at
payment (1.3%) and the risk at closure (1.2%) increased
slightly compared to 2023, with both remaining below 2%. In
2024, the amount of corrective measures remained stable,
while the amount of preventive measures was significantly
higher compared to 2023, at EUR 13.6 million. This is
partially explained by the time gap between decisions taken
in 2023 but implemented in the
Commission’s accounting
system in 2024 for an amount of EUR 5.3 million.
This policy area consisted mostly of low-risk
segments of expenditure.
For a share of 87% of the
relevant expenditure, the risk at payment is below 2%. These
include the payments to decentralised agencies voted by the
budgetary authority, which were considered an error-free
type of expenditure and represented 40%. The
implementation of the Internal Security Fund, the Asylum,
Migration and Integration Fund and the Border Management
and Visa Policy Instrument, under the shared management
mode, representing 44% of the relevant expenditure, is also
low risk, with an overall risk at payment of 1.1% and 0.8%, respectively, for the programmes in the 2014-
2020 and 2021-2027 periods.
(
89
) Heading 4 also includes the Internal Security Fund of heading 5, since all the funds managed by DG Migration and
Home Affairs are audited and controlled on the basis of the management mode and the type of payment, and the
risks thus determined cannot be split between the budget headings.
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The only high-risk expenditure segment that was implemented directly by the Commission reached a risk at
payment of 6.64% in 2024 (up from 4.04% in 2023). This segment represented only 13% of the relevant
expenditure for 2024 and corresponded to grants for EU actions and emergency assistance to support
Member States in the fields of migration and border management.
At the end of 2024, two reservations were identified:
•
one reservation concerning the Border Management and Visa Policy Instrument, Asylum, Migration
and Integration Fund and the Internal Security Fund for the 2021-2027 programming period,
quantified for two Member States and non-quantified for one Member State.
one reservation concerning the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the Internal Security
Fund for the 2014-2020 programming period, quantified for one Member State and one Schengen-
associated country and non-quantified for six Member States.
•
Multiannual financial framework heading 4
–
migration and border management
–
overview of
risk segmentation for 2022-2024
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports for 2024.
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Heading 5
–
security and defence
Total amount of relevant expenditure:
EUR 318.7 million (2023: EUR 136.7 million).
Risk at payment:
0.5% (2023: 0.5%).
Risk at closure:
0.5% (2023: 0.5%).
Total corrective and preventive measures:
EUR 7.5 million (2023: EUR 1.9 million):
•
•
preventive measures: EUR 7.2 million (2023: EUR 1.9 million);
corrective measures: EUR 0.3 million (2023: EUR 0 million).
Reservations:
none (2023: none).
Under this heading, the risk at payment remained
stable, and very low, between 2023 and 2024.
This is
explained by the low inherent risk profile of the
beneficiaries, the means of funding of the different
programmes and the performance of the related control
systems. Overall, the relevant expenditure increased by
133% from 2023 to 2024. This is mostly due to the
advancement of projects under the European Defence
Funds and the ammunition production programme that
have started since the beginning of the programming
period, leading to more payment after a few years.
Almost 76% of the expenditure is linked to defence
initiatives
(i.e. the European Defence Fund and its
precursor programmes, the Act in Support of Ammunition
Production programme and the European defence
industrial development programme) that are largely
implemented through direct management by the
Commission, through grants and procurement. The
remaining expenditure, including part of the preparatory
action on defence research, was implemented through
indirect management by the European Defence Agency
and the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation.
The increase in preventive measures, resulting from
ex ante
controls that are carried out before
the payments take place, is mostly explained by the increase in payments
that are checked
ex ante.
Very few errors were detected post-payment as a result of
ex post
controls, and thus corrective measures
remained low, which is consistent with the inherent low risk for this expenditure.
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Multiannual financial framework heading 5
–
security and defence
–
overview of risk
segmentation for 2022-2024
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports for 2024.
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Heading 6
–
neighbourhood and the world
Total amount of relevant expenditure:
EUR 20.0 billion (2023: EUR 14.2 billion).
Risk at payment:
0.8% (2023: 0.8%).
Risk at closure:
0.7% (2023: 0.7%).
Total corrective and preventive measures:
EUR 153.1 million (2023: EUR 150.5 million):
•
•
preventive measures: EUR 125.5 million (2023: EUR 138.1 million);
corrective measures: EUR 27.6 million (2023: EUR 12.4 million).
Reservations:
one reservation without financial impact (2023: one reservation).
In 2024, the risk at payment (0.8%) and the risk at closure
(0.7%) remained stable compared to 2023 and were well
below 2%. The expenditure increased by EUR 5.8 billion
–
more than 30% compared to 2023
–
mostly relating to the
Ukraine Facility, which started in 2024 (EUR 3.6 billion
under the EU budget and EUR 13.1 billion of loans outside
the EU budget), and the contributions to the Global Fund
(EUR 1.16 billion).
The new Ukraine Facility was launched in March 2024. In
total, it will provide EUR 50 billion of financial support to
Ukraine over the 2024-2027 period, combining non-
repayable support (borne by the EU budget) and highly
concessional loans (from borrowings). Payments are
performance based and depend on the achievement of
predefined steps.
Despite the low level of error in most of the expenditure
segments, the Commission continued to look into
possibilities to improve its financial management of
programmes that are sometimes governed by complex
funding procedures. This is also necessitated by the
complex operational environment, characterised by unpredictability, volatility and insecurity.
The main causes for errors in grants and indirect management are missing supporting documents,
procurement issues and excess clearing. The Court of Auditors concludes that there is excess clearing when
the Commission pays for more than the actual cost incurred by the implementing partners. Commission
services do not consider such a situation to be an error since this is in any case regularised at the end of the
project, where the final payment is based on the actual costs incurred. Still, Commission services have taken
mitigation measures, such as strengthening the dialogue and verification processes to increase transparency
in cooperation with international organisations, to address the weaknesses and deficiencies. Moreover, DG
International Partnerships concluded the review of its control strategy in 2024, and is now considering the
measures to be taken as a follow-up. The report recommends enhancing the effectiveness of controls and
simplifying and reducing the administrative burden, and suggests measures in indirect management and
grants to prevent and reduce errors.
The reservation concerning projects in Libya, Syria and Ukraine was maintained in 2024.
In these
countries, the EU delegations cannot implement standard monitoring and control activities due to security and
political constraints on the ground. Mitigating measures have been put in place, including remote monitoring
and cross-checking information from various sources. Still, they do not allow to fully address the impact on
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the assurance of the corresponding expenditure. Without a Commission presence on the ground, the objective
of these measures is to mitigate the systemic risks related to the operations to the extent possible, even if
the countries remain active conflict zones.
Multiannual financial framework heading 6
–
neighbourhood and the world
–
overview of risk
segmentation for 2022-2024
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports for 2024.
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Heading 7
–
European public administration
Total amount of relevant expenditure:
EUR 11.6 billion (2023: EUR 8.9 billion).
Risk at payment:
0.5% (2023: 0.5%).
Risk at closure:
0.5% (2023: 0.5%).
Total corrective and preventive measures:
EUR 5.9 million (2023: EUR 3.5 million):
•
•
preventive measures: EUR 4.3 million (2023: EUR 2.7 million);
corrective measures: EUR 1.6 million (2023: 0.8 EUR million).
Reservations:
one reputational reservation (2023: one reputational reservation).
This heading groups together all of the Commission
services and departments that mostly provide services to
other Commission services and departments but have no
operational policy objectives. These entities thus mostly
manage administrative expenditure under the direct
management mode, such as the Office for the
Administration and Payment of Individual Entitlements,
which represents approximately 61% of the expenditure
for this heading. The increase in the relevant expenditure
compared to 2023 corresponds mainly (EUR 2.54 billion)
to the interest rate subsidy paid under the European
Union Recovery Instrument and the Ukraine
macrofinancial assistance plus programme.
The risk at payment was prudently set at 0.5% for this
low-risk type of expenditure. As most of the
corresponding control systems involve predominantly
ex
ante
controls, the estimated future corrections were
often set at a prudent 0.0%. Thus, the risk at closure is
equal to the risk at payment, and remained very low at
0.5%. In 2024,
the Commission’s preventive measures
amounted to EUR 4.3
million, more than last year’s
EUR 2.7 million. The corrective measures amounted to EUR 1.6 million (EUR 0.8 million in 2023). For heading 7,
the increase in recoveries reflects the adjustment of advance payments following the first full year of
implementation of a new contractual framework. Similar to previous years, these recoveries are related to the
standard regularisation of payments and do not correspond to the correction of irregularities.
In this policy area, the European Personnel Selection Office maintained the reputational reservation that was
raised in 2023 on the issues encountered in implementing new selection procedures and competitions. The
measures taken starting in 2023 have not yet delivered their full mitigating impact.
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Multiannual financial framework heading 7
–
European public administration
–
overview of risk
segmentation for 2022-2024
Source:
European Commission annual activity reports for 2024.
2.1.4.
Efficiency measures have been taken
One indicator used to measure the
efficiency of procedures and controls in
place for making payments is the time to
pay. In 2024, 99% of payments (in value)
were made within the legal payment
deadline
(see graph), despite the fact that
the working environment was still significantly
impacted by various crises. This is of
paramount importance, as many beneficiaries
rely on these payments to carry out their
activities and projects, which, in turn,
contribute to the Commission’s objectives.
The Commission is continually striving to improve the efficiency of its operations
so as to deliver on
its objectives under tight budgetary constraints and to achieve the objectives set in its digital agenda.
Processes are being streamlined to ensure the most efficient use of limited resources.
Against a backdrop of unprecedented challenges,
the Commission’s digital transformation is moving
forward
by continuing the development of more efficient corporate information technology tools to increase
the efficiency of its business processes and offering increasing data management and reporting capabilities.
An important milestone in the business-driven digital transformation is the go-live of the
Commission’s
new
financial and accounting system (SUMMA) (see box below).
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SUMMA
–
the go-live
of the Commission’s new-generation
corporate financial system
In 2024,
in line with the EU’s digital strategy,
the Commission continued to implement and deploy its
new corporate financial platform, SUMMA. The platform went live in the Commission departments and
executive agencies in January 2025, fully replacing the former central accounting, budgetary and
treasury system, and will be further deployed to all the entities using it by 2027. This offers a
significant increase in business efficiency, along with flexibility through integrated real-time analytics
and decreased costs relating to ownership and future maintenance.
SUMMA is a modern financial system, designed in close cooperation with the business owners, based
on the best industry standards and fully integrated into
the Commission’s corporate
information
technology landscape.
The integration with the main corporate and local systems during 2024 increased the overall level of
automation of the Commission’s operations. The SUMMA program
has a strong governance framework
and uses a thorough quality assurance system, based on regular tests on SUMMA processes and
integrations. Following a comprehensive assessment, which confirmed the readiness of SUMMA and
the integrated systems, along with the organisational readiness to go live, the SUMMA Supervisory
Board agreed to deploy the platform in November 2024, starting with the operations on the
anticipated budget for 2025. Since January 2025, SUMMA has been used for all financial operations
by the Commission and the executive agencies.
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Other examples of economy and efficiency are presented in the box below.
Examples of economy and efficiency
•
One of the measures that is expected to have the widest and longest-term effect is the
increased use of simplified cost options funding, in particular lump sums and unit costs,
in several policy areas.
In the area of research,
the use of lump sums is increasingly important,
with an additional significant wave of lump-sum funding in the work programmes for 2024
accounting for 27% of the total call budget, with an objective of 50% of the total call budget by
2027. Also, since May 2024, optional unit costs for personnel have been introduced. Following an
in-depth analysis of lump-sum grants, they continue to be popular with users and are perceived as
reducing the administrative burden.
Still in the same area, the European Research Executive Agency has developed
automated
checks for lump-sum proposals.
These checks help evaluators in assessing budgets. This pre-
analysis has helped pinpoint key budget items requiring further attention.
In external action policies
during 2024, the
number of indicators
for the Service for Foreign
Policy Instruments’ results framework
was reduced by 68%
(from 512 to 166 indicators). This
concrete work on simplification was inspired by the better regulation process, responding to an
Internal Audit Service recommendation on the performance management framework of 2020.
With this revised performance framework, implementing partners will have clearer, more
streamlined and more transparent means of reporting on the results of EU investment in external
action in the coming years. This will thus also contribute to reducing their administrative burden.
Several Commission departments continued to report in 2024 on significant progress made in the
eProcurement programmes. An important milestone was achieved by the Joint Research Centre at
the end of September 2024 with the complete phase-out of eTendering, which has been replaced
by the Public Procurement Management Tool and the Funding and Tenders Portal. Practically all
Commission departments have at least one of their framework contracts fully onboarded on
eContracting
or are able to use the framework contracts of another department. A full solution
has been put into production that can now also be used by all Commission departments for their
new direct contracts . The eProcurement solution is undergoing continual improvement, and this
will continue in 2025. These improvements aim to give users more flexibility and greater
efficiency.
DG Digital Services provides the
Reusable Solutions Platform,
a set of software building blocks,
to other Commission departments so that they do not have to procure or develop the respective
functionality themselves. This platform avoids cost and improves the economy and efficiency of
information technology activities at the corporate level. It also improves information technology
security and fosters the principle of reuse across the institution.
Kohesio, the public platform for the visibility and transparency of cohesion-policy-funded projects,
was further updated and enriched in 2024. It covers data from all Member States and is available
in all 24 EU languages. At the end of the year, Kohesio contained nearly 2 million projects and
630 000 beneficiaries supported by the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund
and the European Social Fund, including Interreg. Projects from the 2021-2027 programming
period have started to arrive, and a new map is being developed to enhance the exploration of
thematic fields across geographic dimensions. The EU Knowledge Graph continues to serve as the
backbone of Kohesio, publishing all data in a linked and open format. It allows researchers and
citizens to export data, promoting transparency on cohesion funds.
•
•
•
•
•
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The impact of artificial intelligence
in January 2024, the Commission issued its
communication on artificial intelligence in the
Commission
(AI@EC) (
90
), laying down a strategic vision to foster the development and use of lawful,
safe and trustworthy AI systems in the Commission. With this, the Commission anticipated and
prepared internally for the implementation of the EU AI Act (
91
), which was adopted and entered into
force in August 2024. This act is
the world’s first comprehensive law on AI. It includes concrete
measures about how the Commission will build institutional and operational capacity to ensure safe,
transparent and human-centred use of AI in its work. It also bans certain AI practices that pose
significant threats and sets strict obligations for high-risk AI systems. This has been
accompanied by the launching of GPT@EC, an AI platform for use within the Commission.
In research and innovation,
a substantial increase in the number of proposals received for many
calls has been noted, which is likely due, at least in part, to the rapid adoption of generative AI by
applicants. This has increased the workload and the pressure on resources during the evaluation and
selection of proposals. There are also risks associated with the use of AI tools by experts and
Commission staff, along with the ethical implications of using AI tool within projects. Examples are as
follows: a possible positive bias in evaluations towards AI-assisted proposals due to better drafting
quality, at the cost of overlooking scientific excellence in other proposals; possible manipulation of
researchers’ CVs, requiring an increase in checks and verifications by evaluation experts; lower quality
and success rates of AI-drafted projects; and project reports and deliverables with unreliable content.
To address both these risks and the increase in applications, an AI Task Force is exploring emerging
issues and designing measures to address them, collated into the
‘Guidance
note
–
Use of artificial
intelligence tools in the submission and evaluation of HE proposals’.
Regarding the new European approach to AI, guidelines on the use of generative AI in science were
published in 2024 through the European Research Area Forum, in collaboration with Member States
and relevant stakeholders, to support the European research community in their responsible use of
generative AI and research integrity (
92
).
2.1.5.
The costs of controls are proportionate to the associated risks
In 2024, following the combined assessment of their effectiveness, efficiency and economy, all Commission
departments reached a positive conclusion on the cost-effectiveness of their controls. The resources allocated
to controls are aligned with the risks relating to the nature of the programmes and/or the context in which
they are implemented. The cost of controls remains generally stable over time. The variety of spending
(
90
) Communication to the Commission
–
Artificial intelligence in the European Commission (AI@EC)
–
A strategic vision to
foster the development and use of lawful, safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems in the European
Commission, C(2024) 380 final, 21 January 2024,
https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2024-
01/EN%20Artificial%20Intelligence%20in%20the%20European%20Commission.PDF.
91
( ) Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised
rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (EC) No 300/2008, (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/2013,
(EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1139 and (EU) 2019/2144 and Directives 2014/90/EU, (EU) 2016/797 and (EU)
2020/1828 (Artificial Intelligence Act), OJ L, 2024/1689, 12.7.2024, ELI:
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj.
(
92
) European Commission: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation,
‘Guidelines
on the responsible use of
generative AI in research developed by the European Research Area Forum’, European Commission website, 20
March
2024,
https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/news/all-research-and-innovation-news/guidelines-responsible-
use-generative-ai-research-developed-european-research-area-forum-2024-03-20_en.
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programmes and their different features do not allow for a meaningful comparison of their control costs.
However, some common cost drivers can be identified, as shown in the following text box.
Examples of common cost drivers
The intrinsic complexity of the programmes managed.
Grants based on the reimbursement of
real costs imply labour-intensive controls as opposed to financing based on lump sums, simplified cost
options or financing not linked to costs, such as performance-based instruments.
The complexity of the environment in which programmes are implemented.
The cost of
controls is likely to be higher in the case of a multisite organisational structure or when partners
and/or beneficiaries are located outside the EU’s jurisdiction.
The volumes and amounts to be processed.
A high number of low-value payments will generate
higher control costs than recurrent mass payments, while the regulatory framework requires certain
incompressible controls. This results in diseconomies of scale.
The type of budget implementation mode.
Under indirect and shared management mode, the cost
of controls is shared between the Commission and its implementing partners, while for direct
management mode the burden is entirely borne by the Commission.
The life cycle of the programme:
Towards the final stage of programmes (e.g. in direct
management mode), despite the low level of expenditure, a minimum level of controls still has to be
carried out, which results in an increase in the ratio of cost of controls to expenditure controlled.
The increase in the average standard staff costs, driven by salary adjustments and
fluctuations in currency exchange rates.
In the last several years, inflation has led to significant
increases in staff costs, whereas the overall budget managed and controlled every year has remained
stable. In external action, an additional factor relates to currency exchange rates.
For the sake of transparency and completeness, departments dealing with shared and/or indirect
management have also reported on the cost of controls in Member States and entrusted entities separately
from the Commission’s own cost of controls in their annual activity reports.
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3.
Management assurance
As part of the governance system explained above, overall management assurance is ensured through the
assurance given by the Directors-General, the Internal Audit Service and the Audit Progress Committee. It is
supplemented by the opinion of the Court of Auditors and points on the 2023 discharge given by the
budgetary authority and the follow-up of the discharge and external audit recommendations.
3.1.
Assessments, assurance and reservations declared by
authorising officers
For the 2024 reporting year, in their respective annual activity reports (
93
), all 51 authorising officers by
delegation (
94
) declared they had reasonable assurance that (1) the information contained in their reports
presents a ‘true and fair view’ (i.e. reliable, complete and correct) of the state of affairs in their departments;
(2) the resources assigned to their activities were used for their intended purpose and in accordance with the
principle of sound financial management; and (3) the control procedures put in place give the necessary
guarantees concerning the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, taking into account the
multiannual character of some programmes and the nature of the payments concerned.
Within their overall assurance-building process, and from their management perspective, the authorising
officers by delegation use all information available during the year, especially the results of their controls, to
spot any potential significant weakness in quantitative or qualitative terms for each programme or segment
of their portfolio. At the end of each financial year, they determine whether the financial impact of such a
weakness is likely be above the materiality threshold of 2% and/or whether the reputational impact is
significant. If so, they qualify their declaration of assurance with a reservation for the specific segment
affected.
For 2024, 11 authorising officers issued a qualified declaration of assurance, resulting in a total
of 18 reservations, as follows.
Similarly, in 2023, 10 authorising officers had reported 14 reservations.
•
A total of
14 reservations have been maintained
from previous years, six of which are entirely
or partially non-quantified. These reservations have been maintained mainly because the root
causes of the material level of error can be partially mitigated but not fully eradicated under the
current
programmes’ legal frameworks. Most of the recurrent reservations concern
segments under
shared management covering weaknesses that are identified at the level of a Member State, paying
agency or programme and usually vary every year.
Four reservations are new,
three not quantified concerning programmes under the 2021-2027
multiannual financial framework and one quantified related to the Resilience and Recovery facility
with a financial impact of EUR 17.5 million, 0.02% of the total expenditure under the Facility in
2024.
In nine further cases,
a reservation was not issued by virtue of the
de minimis
rule, whereby
cases with a residual error rate above the 2% materiality threshold for segments that represent less
than 5% of the department’s total payments and have a financial impact of less than EUR
5 million
are deemed not substantial enough to issue a reservation. The total financial impact of these cases
•
•
(
93
)
European Commission, ‘Annual
activity reports’, European Commission website,
https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/strategy-documents/annual-activity-reports_en.
94
( )
The term ‘authorising officer by delegation’ covers Directors-General
of Commission departments and heads of
executive agencies, offices, services and task forces.
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in 2024 was very limited, at EUR 8.6 million (
95
), though it had increased compared to 2023
(EUR 6.4 million).
For reservations related to expenditure from the EU budget, the total financial impact was EUR 330.9 million
for 2024, representing 0.2 % of the relevant expenditure, and had decreased. This is a decrease compared to
2023’s EUR
1 290.6 million which is partially linked to the implementation of the 2023-2027 common
agricultural policy. For this expenditure, in the case of serious deficiencies in governance systems leading to a
reservation, it is not possible to determine the amount of the financial impact because it is the result of a
qualitative assessment and not based on an error rate. The decrease in the financial impact is also linked to
the policy areas of cohesion, where only a limited number of assurance packages were submitted by the
Member States by 1 March 2025, since the amendment of the Common Provisions Regulation by the
Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform Regulation allows
Member States’
final assurance packages to be
submitted by 15 February 2026.
Annex 5 in Volume III provides a complete list of the reservations for 2024, along with further explanations
and details.
(
95
) It should be noted that the
de minimis
rule for reservations is not applied to cohesion policy funds, since reservations
are made for individual (parts of) programmes and then aggregated by programming period.
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3.2.
Work of the Internal Audit Service and overall conclusion
The Commission’s Directorates-General and services also base their assurance on the work done by the
Internal Audit Service.
As required by its mission charter, the Internal Audit Service issues an annual overall conclusion on the
Commission’s financial management. This is based on the audit
work in the area of financial management in
the Commission covering the past three years (2022 to 2024). The overall conclusion also takes into account
information from other sources, namely the reports of the European Court of Auditors. The overall conclusion
is issued at the same time as this report and covers the same year.
Based on this audit information, the Internal Auditor considered that, in 2024, the Commission
had put in place governance, risk management and internal control procedures which, taken as a
whole, are adequate to give reasonable assurance over the achievement of its financial
objectives, with the exception of those areas of financial management over which authorising
officers by delegation have expressed reservations in their declaration of assurance as listed in
the annex.
Without further qualifying the overall conclusion for 2024, the Internal Audit Service drew the attention of the
Commission to the need to respond to the high cross-cutting risks for the institution and the EU budget by
building on the lessons learned from managing its financial resources in a challenging context. This is further
detailed in Annex 6 to this report.
The Internal Audit Service audits the management and control systems within the Commission and the
executive agencies, providing independent and objective assurance on their adequacy and effectiveness. The
resulting recommendations concern aspects relating to performance management, EU policy implementation,
legality and regularity in relation to internal control systems, preparedness for and early implementation of
the EU budget, cooperation with third parties implementing policies and programmes, and information
technology. For all accepted recommendations, the auditees drafted action plans that were submitted to the
Internal Audit Service, which subsequently assessed them as being satisfactory or requested a revised action
plan. Finally, the Internal Audit Service pursued its strict follow-up policy and assessed the actual
implementation of its recommendations
by the Commission’s departments on a regular basis. The audit work
confirmed that almost all of the recommendations issued between 2020 and 2024 and followed up by the
Internal Audit Service had been adequately and effectively implemented by the auditees. This result indicates
that the Commission services are diligent in implementing the recommendations and mitigating the risks
identified by the Internal Audit Service.
Annex 6 includes more information on the assurance provided by the Internal Audit Service. In addition, a
report on the internal auditor’s
work is forwarded by the Commission to the discharge authority,
in accordance
with Article 118(4) of the Financial Regulation, as part of the integrated financial and accountability reporting
package.
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3.3.
Assurance obtained through the work of the Audit Progress
Committee
The Audit Progress Committee oversees audit matters within the Commission and reports annually to the
College of Commissioners. It ensures the independence of the Internal Audit Service, monitors the quality of
internal audit work, and ensures that internal and external (i.e. from the European Court of Auditors) audit
recommendations are properly taken into account by the Commission’s Directorates-General
and services and
that they receive appropriate follow-up.
During this reporting period, which continued to be affected by the consequences of the
succession of
unprecedented challenges
impacting the EU since 2020, the committee maintained its important role in
enhancing governance, organisational performance and accountability across the entire organisation. Despite
the time required for the appointment of new internal members to the Audit Progress Committee following
the transition period between the two Commission mandates, it held four rounds of meetings, focusing on the
key objectives set out in the 2024 and 2025 work programmes. The committee also welcomed the broad
convergence between the critical risks identified by management and the high risks identified by the Internal
Audit Service.
The committee discussed very important audit findings raised by the Internal Audit Service with relevant
auditees and urged the completion of mitigating actions as soon as possible. The committee held discussions
on important topics such as data protection, HR and IT security, especially relevant in the current cybersecurity
environment.
The committee was satisfied with the independence and quality of the internal audit work and welcomed the
internal auditor’s reassurances that the
planning provides sufficient coverage for delivering the overall
conclusion on the Commission’s financial management. The effective implementation rate of the internal
auditor’s recommendations remained very high (i.e. covering 95% of recommendations issued
and followed
up during 2020-2024), and only six very important audit recommendations were overdue by more than 6
months as of January 2025.
The committee continued its exchanges with the European Court of Auditors and held a discussion with the
external auditor on its annual work programme for 2025. The committee also continued to monitor the
progress in implementing the Court’s recommendations, and was satisfied when, for the 17th time in a row,
the Court gave a clean opinion on the reliability of the EU consolidated accounts.
Annex 7 to this annual management and performance report includes more information on the work and
conclusions of the committee.
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3.4.
The opinions of the Court of Auditors on the 2023 accounts
and on the legality and regularity of transactions
The Court of Auditors’
2023
–
Annual reports on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2023 financial
year and on the activities funded by the 9th, 10th and 11th European Development Funds (EDFs) for the
2023 financial year,
published in October 2024, gave a clean opinion on the EU accounts for the 17th year in
a row. Revenue also continued to be free from material error.
As regards the legality and regularity of expenditure, under the multiannual financial framework, the Court
maintained its adverse opinion. It estimated the overall level of error for the EU budget to have increased
(5.6% compared to 4.2% in 2022).
The Court explains its adverse opinion through both the reported level of error and the fact that material
errors remain in what the Court considers to be high-risk expenditure. The Court considers as such expenditure
that is often subject to complex rules and is mainly based on reimbursement of costs, in particular in the
areas of cohesion, research, rural development, market measures under the European Agricultural Guarantee
Fund and some parts of external initiatives. It concludes that high-risk expenditure represented 64% of the
audited population for 2023 (against 66% in 2022).
On the other hand, the Court confirmed again that the risk of error is lower for expenditure subject to simpler
rules, mainly entitlement-based payments (as opposed to reimbursement-based payments). This concerns, for
instance, direct payments to farmers, but also administrative expenditure (mostly salaries and pensions in the
EU civil service). Both these types of expenditure continue to be free from material error.
The Court also issued an audit opinion on the Recovery and Resilience Facility for the third time. It considered
that the overall effects of its findings are material but not pervasive to this year’s
Recovery and Resilience
Facility expenditure. Based on these quantitative and other qualitative findings, the Court of Auditors issued a
qualified opinion (
96
).
(
96
) Where the Court of Auditors finds a material level of error and determines its impact on a given audit opinion, the
Court must determine whether
the errors are ‘pervasive’ to the audit population. When errors are material and
pervasive, the Court issues an adverse opinion. This was not the case for Recovery and Resilience Facility, where the
overall effects of findings are material, but not pervasive
to the year’s accepted
Recovery and Resilience Facility
expenditure, thus leading to a qualified opinion.
See European Court of Auditors,
2023 annual reports on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2023 financial
year and on activities funded by the 9th, 10th and 11th European Development Funds (EDFs) for the 2023 financial
year,
p. 51.
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Internal control and financial management
3.5.
Discharge of the budget for 2023
The Parliament granted the discharge to the Commission for the 2023 financial year on 7 May 2025, after
having examined the reports of the Court of Auditors, the Commission’s integrated financial and
accountability reporting
package and the Council’s discharge recommendation. The Parliament’s Committee
on Budgetary Control also invited selected Commissioners and Executive Vice-Presidents for discharge
hearings structured according to the headings of the multiannual financial framework, after having held
exchanges of views with selected Directors-General (focused on the respective annual activity reports).
During the procedure, the key stakeholders
–
the Parliament, the Council and the Court of Auditors
–
focused
on how to ensure transparency in the use of the EU budget, how to improve its results and how to further
reduce the level of errors. The Recovery and Resilience Facility was again one of the key elements of the
discharge discussions due to its financial magnitude and the specific nature of its delivery mode, which is
performance based rather than based on costs incurred. Importantly, the 2023 financial year marked the
midpoint of the Recovery and Resilience Facility’s
delivery period.
The discussions on discharge also touched upon issues such as:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
the financing of non-governmental organisations;
the rule of law and fundamental rights;
the importance of the EU budget in achieving the EU’s priorities and responding to crises;
the need for smoother implementation and absorption of EU funds and for the simplification of
rules and procedures;
the growing cost of repayment of the debt under NextGenerationEU,
drawing conclusions from the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility in the light of
the next multiannual financial framework;
cooperation among various stakeholders in the EU anti-fraud architecture;
the methodologies to estimate the level of error and the level of risk, and cases where the Court of
Auditors and the Commission reached different conclusions on the eligibility of expenditure;
the review of the funding provided to Palestine (
97
) and to the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees;
the use of information technology tools for the management, control and audit of EU funds.
Within the annual discharge procedure, the Commission informs the Parliament and the Council (as the two
arms of the budgetary and discharge authorities) about the implementation of their recommendations
through two reports: (1) an overview follow-up report (published in the summer); and (2) a more detailed
report with replies to specific requests from the Parliament and the Council (sent in the autumn).
Regarding recommendations issued by the Court of Auditors, the Commission’s replies are published
together
with the
Court’s
reports, stating which recommendations are accepted, partially accepted or rejected. The
follow-up to the accepted recommendations is tracked in an information technology tool, ensuring the
traceability of each step of the implementation. Each Commission department reports on the implementation
of these recommendations in its annual activity report. Moreover, the state of play of the implementation of
these recommendations is presented on a regular basis to the Audit Progress Committee in the context of its
mandate.
The
Court of Auditors also monitors the Commission’s implementation of its recommendations and provides
feedback, helping the Commission to enhance its follow-up activities. In its 2023 annual report, the Court of
Auditors reviewed the extent to which the Commission had pursued the implementation of 185 audit
(
97
) This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the
individual positions of the Member States on this issue.
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recommendations addressed to it in 26 special reports published in 2020. Eight recommendations were not
yet due for implementation at the time of the Court’s follow-up review. Of the remaining 177
recommendations, the Commission had implemented 92 (52%) in full, 27 (16%) in most respects and 34
(19%) in some respects. In two cases (1%), no assessment of the implementation status was required, as the
Court of Auditors considered the recommendation no longer relevant. In two other cases (1%), the Court was
unable to reach a conclusion
as it was too early to assess the recommendation’s level of implementation.
Of
the 20 recommendations (11%) that the Court considered not to have been implemented, the Commission
had not accepted nine, whereas it had partially accepted four. These results were similar to those of previous
years.
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Internal control and financial management
4.
4.1.
Outlook for 2025 and beyond
A new strategic planning and programming cycle for
2025-2029
The Commission has streamlined its strategic planning and programming for 2025-2029, moving from one
strategic plan per department towards a single strategic plan for the whole organisation. This new single
strategic plan will cover a period of five years (2025-2029), and will include, among other things, the
Commission’s general objectives,
based on the
2024-2029 political guidelines,
along with long-term impact
indicators.
In addition to a single strategic plan, the departments’ management plans will be shortened
and
more focused on the outputs and deliverables planned by the Commission departments for the year ahead.
4.2.
The preparation of the post-2027 multiannual financial
framework
With a view to the next multiannual financial framework
– the EU’s long-term
budget
–
that will start in 2028,
the Commission launched in 2024 the preparatory work for the proposals due in 2025.
This next long-term budget needs to square the circle: the expectations on the EU to act are steadily
increasing. For the EU budget to be fit for its ambitions, ensure the repayment of the borrowing for
NextGenerationEU and, at the same time, provide stable national financial contributions from Member States,
the EU needs to introduce new own resources.
The status quo is not an option.
The EU must maximise the
impact of every euro it spends, focusing on EU priorities and objectives where EU action is most needed.
As far as internal control and financial management are concerned, particular attention is being paid to
striking the right balance between the administrative burden for the beneficiaries and the added value of
strong controls and audits to preserve the
EU’s financial interests and to prevent fraud.
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Recovery
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1.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility
under NextGenerationEU
–
an innovative and successful
crisis and recovery response tool
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (
98
) is the centrepiece of the
NextGenerationEU
recovery plan for the EU
and was established in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to help EU Member States recover faster and
become more resilient. It provides a powerful tool at the EU level to support an accelerated and ambitious
green and digital transition. In 2022, it was expanded to accommodate the REPowerEU plan, the European
Commission’s response to the economic hardship, high inflation and energy crisis triggered by Russia’s
unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The discussions on the revision of the national plans, most of which
were targeted amendments, continued in 2024.
The implementation had made progress as of end-2024, most milestones and targets planned to be achieved
by the end of 2024 were either assessed as fulfilled by the Commission (47%) or reported by the Member
States to be completed (29%). A minor part was marked as not complete (24%) (
99
).
Implementation of Recovery and Resilience Facility milestones and targets
Source:
European Commission.
(
98
) Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the
Recovery and Resilience Facility, OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 1, ELI:
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/241/oj
(Recovery and
Resilience Facility Regulation).
99
( ) This includes milestones and targets reported as delayed, on track or not completed based on October 2024 Member
State reporting.
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In 2024 the Commission disbursed a total amount of EUR 85.3 billion (out of which
EUR 29.4 billion was in loans),
including additional prefinancing payments of EUR 3.32 billion. This brings
the total disbursements by the end of 2024 to EUR 306.1 billion, divided into EUR 197.5 billion in grants (55%
of the total EUR 359 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility envelope) and EUR 108.7 billion in loans (37% of
the total EUR 291 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility envelope). The milestones and targets related to the
disbursements pertain to a large range of measures covering the six pillars of the Recovery and Resilience
Facility Regulation.
Total Recovery and Resilience Facility disbursements made and amounts to be disbursed
Source:
Recovery and resilience scoreboard.
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The Recovery and Resilience Facility
Disbursements made in 2024 per Member State for grants and loans, including pre-financing
Source:
European Commission.
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The Recovery and Resilience Facility
1.1.
Future-proofing through revised plans
In 2024 the implementation of the plans continued to progress on the ground, and the Commission focused
on facilitating and accelerating the implementation of recovery and resilience plans.
There were 17 revised
plans submitted to and assessed by the Commission.
The amendments were primarily based on
Article 21 of the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation, which allows for revisions when objective
circumstances render it impossible to achieve milestones and targets. Most of the revisions were targeted
amendments where
commitments that were no longer achievable due to objective circumstances were
adjusted and, in many cases, replaced by more suitable alternatives, while maintaining the original ambition
of the recovery and resilience plans.
In revising their recovery and resilience plans, Member States paid
particular attention not only to the quality of the measures but also to their degree of maturity and their
implementation horizon, given the time-bound nature of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (until 2026). The
Recovery and Resilience Facility’s
broad scope has provided the necessary flexibility for Member States to
allocate resources in accordance with their evolving priorities, in line with the Recovery and Resilience Facility
objectives.
The Commission adopted an updated guidance on recovery and resilience plans, to enhance the efficiency of
implementing the facility and simplify the reporting requirements for Member States (
100
). The updated
guidance further clarifies the scope for amendments that can be made to a recovery and resilience plan in
case of objective circumstances, including to provide support to measures addressing the objectives of the
strategic technologies in Europe platform (STEP) (
101
). The guidance also simplifies reporting requirements for
Member States and provides greater clarity regarding the conditions under which support from the Recovery
and Resilience Facility and other EU funds can be combined to enhance synergies.
In 2024 three more Member States (Germany, Ireland and Luxembourg) introduced REPowerEU chapters into
their recovery and resilience plans, thus benefiting from additional resources and boosting reforms and
investment
that diversify the EU’s energy supplies, accelerate the green transition and support vulnerable
households. In total, 26 Member States now have REPowerEU chapters in their plans, accounting for a total
amount of additional funding of EUR 64.75 billion for all plans, rising from EUR 62 billion at the end of 2023.
The last outstanding REPowerEU chapter (for Bulgaria) is currently under assessment and the adoption is
planned for 2025.
The REPowerEU chapters further increased the ambitions in the green dimension. As of the end of 2024, more
than 42.6% (EUR 277 billion) of the total Recovery and Resilience Facility allocation was set to finance
investment and reforms supporting the green transition, including energy efficiency, renewable energy,
electricity grids and other green investment.
(
100
) Commission notice
–
Guidance on recovery and resilience plans, C/2024/4618 of 22 July 2024,
https://commission.europa.eu/publications/updated-guidance-recovery-and-resilience-plans_en.
101
( ) Regulation (EU) 2024/795 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 February 2024 establishing the
Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP), OJ L 2024/795, 29.2.2024, p. 1, ELI:
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/795/oj
(STEP Regulation). The STEP Regulation allows Member States to introduce
measures supporting investment operations that contribute to the objectives of STEP in their recovery and resilience
plans.
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Evolution of Recovery and Resilience Facility funding (
102
)
Source:
European Commission.
The total financial envelope under the Recovery and Resilience Facility has stood at EUR 650 billion, split into
EUR 359 billion in grants and EUR 291 billion in loans. Of this, NextGenerationEU supports EUR 338 billion of
Recovery and Resilience Facility grants and the entirety of the loan support. Additional grant support of
EUR 19.5 billion from auctions of emissions trading system allowances and EUR 2 billion in voluntary
transfers from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve have been made available to Member States to fund the
measures included in the REPowerEU chapters.
1.2.
Achieving performance results
Member States use the funds provided by the Recovery and Resilience Facility to implement ambitious
reforms and investment that will make their economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and prepared
for the green and digital transitions.
The results obtained by the end of 2024 indicate that the facility is making a key difference in the lives of EU
citizens. The common indicators demonstrate the progress of the implementation of the recovery and
resilience plans towards common objectives and the overall performance of the facility.
Common indicator
Savings in annual primary energy consumption
Additional operational capacity installed for renewable energy
Alternative fuels infrastructure (refuelling/recharging points)
Population benefiting from protection measures against floods, wildfires and other
climate-related natural disasters
Additional dwellings with internet access provided via very-high-capacity networks
Enterprises supported for developing or adopting digital products, services and application
processes
Results by end 2024
33 388 511 MWh/year
110 655 MW and
18 MW for hydrogen
915 995
31.1 million
16.2 million
1.2 million
(
102
) For the loans part, the impact of the 2024 revisions is limited to a EUR 20 million reduction for Belgium.
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The Recovery and Resilience Facility
Common indicator
Users of new and upgraded public digital services, products and processes
Researchers working in supported research facilities
Enterprises supported (small (including micro), medium and large)
Number of participants in education or training
Number of people in employment or engaged in job-searching activities
Capacity of new or modernised healthcare facilities
Classroom capacity of new or modernised childcare and education facilities
Number of young people aged 15–29 receiving support
Results by end 2024
1 584 million
(
103
)
164 000
4.5 million
29.0 million
2.8 million
49.8 million
2.7 million
10.7 million
Furthermore, the Recovery and Resilience Facility helped to deliver some key reforms during the first three
years of implementation, including reforms:
•
adopting the Report on Green Budget to map green expenses in the annual budget law, facilitating
building renovation works and improving access to finance (Spain) and facilitating the use of energy
performance contracts to promote energy efficiency investment in public and private projects
(Poland);
implementing a new framework law to improve the living conditions of non-self-sufficient elderly
people (Italy) and supporting universal free access to quality mental health units (Greece);
implementing the Open Government Act that helped enhance the transparency and accessibility of
public administrations’ information (the Netherlands) and adopting the digital health strategy to
help develop and implement digital solutions in the healthcare sector (Latvia);
connecting companies with regulatory bodies through a certification platform for the medical
devices and aerospace industries (Czechia) and expanding upskilling and reskilling opportunities for
all adults via an e-college (Malta);
setting higher, modernised standards for key learning goals in primary and lower-secondary schools
(Slovakia) and strengthening the educational system by tackling learning disparities created by the
COVID-19 crisis (Germany);
utilising a funding model supporting equal chances for all kids and helping carers to find full-time
jobs (Croatia) and developing a digital gender pay-gap tool for employers (Estonia);
simplifying administrative rules and procedures linked to public action (France) and creating a
growth-friendly business environment through the De-bureaucratisation Act (Slovenia).
•
•
•
•
•
•
In addition, the Recovery and Resilience Facility has contributed to unlocking the full potential of structural
reforms by complementing them with key investment. Some of the major investment, which is part of the
measures, with key steps already completed, includes:
•
•
improving the resilience of more than 172 out of 1 162 km of railways in the south, which includes
the renewal of railway lines on six different routes (Italy, EUR 2.4 billion (
104
);
at least 3 500 households and businesses gaining access to high-speed internet (Denmark,
EUR 13.5 million);
(
103
) The indicator counts the total number of uses rather than the number of unique individuals.
(
104
) The cost refers to the measure, while the completion refers to key steps (milestone or target level). One measure
(reform or investment) is usually composed of numerous milestones and targets.
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The Recovery and Resilience Facility
•
funding granted to EU-wide research projects carried out by universities and research institutes that
have agreed to focus on results, changing the way public research is funded towards rewarding
successful outcomes (Croatia, EUR 59 million);
accelerating healthcare digital infrastructure and tools by improving the interoperability of
information systems and software with at least 30.5 million electronic health records, an
enhancement of
‘My health space’
with 12 million new digital documents and the establishment of
410 000 active electronic medico-social records (France, EUR 2 billion);
awarding contracts for the procurement of an e-pharmacy system and building and configuring an
integrated financial management system for hospitals (Ireland, EUR 75 million);
providing 600 000 laptops to pupils and teachers in primary and secondary public schools on a
lending basis, supporting digital education and teaching (Portugal, EUR 609 million).
•
•
•
An overview of how the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the national recovery and
resilience plans are progressing is provided through the
recovery and resilience scoreboard
and the map of
projects supported by the Facility.
Each recovery and resilience plan is required to contribute at least 37% and 20%, respectively, to climate and
digital objectives. This is reflected in the significant budgetary contribution to both the green and digital
transitions of the facility.
•
•
Climate contribution:
EUR 276.6 billion from 2021 to 2024 (42.6% of the total envelope, including
grants and loans).
Digital contribution:
EUR 149.2 billion from 2021 to 2024 (25.45% of the total envelope,
including grants and loans).
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The Recovery and Resilience Facility
2.
Control results confirm the satisfactory
fulfilment of all milestones and targets
for payments made in 2024
A dedicated control environment to ensure the protection of
EU funds
2.1.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation sets out the respective roles and responsibilities
of Member States and of the Commission for protecting the EU budget.
The facility is a fully
performance-based instrument, and, unlike the majority of other EU funding programmes, the Commission
does not reimburse Member States based on actual costs incurred for the reforms and investment included in
their recovery and resilience plans. Instead, the Commission pays pre-defined instalments solely when agreed
milestones and targets are satisfactorily fulfilled. The funds of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, once
disbursed, enter each national budget with no direct link to the expenditure incurred to finance the reforms
and investment. As per the regulation, Member States are responsible for ensuring that the facility is
implemented in compliance with EU and national rules and with the principles of sound financial
management. The Commission should be able to receive sufficient assurance from them in that regard.
Member States must put in place suitable monitoring and control systems to protect the
financial interests of the EU and to ensure that the use of funds complies with EU and national
law.
These systems are described in detail in the recovery and resilience plans and were assessed by the
Commission before each plan was adopted. During the lifetime of the facility, Member States must ensure the
effectiveness of these control systems. Notably, they must undertake systematic work to ensure that the
systems prevent, detect and correct irregularities. If a Member State detects any specific irregularities, it must
take action to correct them and inform the Commission of them. If a Member State does not undertake the
necessary corrections in cases of fraud, corruption or conflict of interest, the Commission will reduce or
recover the affected amounts from the Member State. Moreover, if a Member State seriously breaches its
obligations under the financing or loan agreements, the Commission will reduce or recover funds depending
on the circumstances of the case (for example, the Commission may apply a flat-rate correction of that
Member State’s facility funds).
The Commission has designed its control strategy to fully comply
with its responsibilities stemming from the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation.
•
The Commission must ensure the legality and regularity of payments to the Member
States, which are solely linked to the satisfactory fulfilment of the milestones and
targets.
For this purpose, the Commission carries out
ex ante
assessments of all the payment
requests
received from the Member States; on-the-spot
ex post
audits
for a selection of payment
requests, milestones and targets;
system audits on milestones and targets;
and the
analysis
of the Member States’ management declarations and summaries of audits
The Commission has the right to reduce and recover any amount, or ask for early
repayment of the loan,
in cases of fraud, corruption or conflicts of interest affecting the financial
interests of the EU that have not been corrected and recovered by the Member State, or for a
serious breach of an obligation resulting from the financing and/or loan agreement signed with the
Member State. For this purpose, the Commission makes an
assessment of the control systems
described in the plans
(and subsequent revisions) submitted to the Commission before their
adoption. In addition, the Commission carries out
system audits on the protection of the
financial interests of the EU
in the Member States over the entire duration of the facility and
•
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audits on the work done by the national audit authorities.
It also assesses the checks carried
out by the Member States on compliance with public procurement rules and State aid rules including
the effectiveness of these checks.
The figure below presents an overview of the Commission’s
control strategy regarding the
facility.
Overview of the Recovery and Resilience Facility control environment at the Commission level
Source:
European Commission.
The Commission makes a qualitative assessment of the control results and the level of risk
associated with the operations. Unlike other EU programmes, this assessment cannot be
quantified with an error rate.
Error rates reflect a quantitative assessment, which is pertinent when the
expenditure can be directly attributed to a quantitative criterion. Payments in the context of the Recovery and
Resilience Facility are based on a qualitative assessment of the fulfilment of milestones and targets, which is
difficult to translate into quantitative terms. Even when milestones and targets have not been satisfactorily
fulfilled and a reduction will be made, this reduction cannot correspond to an amount of ineligible
expenditure. In addition, the investments and reforms included in the recovery and resilience plans are very
diverse, both within a Member State and between Member States, which prevents any statistical
extrapolation. In this context, a meaningful error rate cannot be determined.
Following the recommendations from the Internal Audit Service, the Court of Auditors and the
European Parliament, the Commission has continued to strengthen its audit and control
framework for the Recovery and Resilience Facility in 2024
with a view to making qualitative
improvements, namely by:
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•
implementing
enhanced
controls on how Member States’ internal control systems ensure
compliance with EU and national rules through the use of comprehensive checks on public
procurement and State aid,
including the effectiveness of such checks; in all types of
Commission audits;
further refining the approach on how to address risks of reversals during
ex post
audits on milestones and targets;
increasing the number of compliance audits
to get further assurance that it can rely on the
audits conducted by national audit authorities;
revising the methodology for the selection of additional audit work regarding the
protection of the financial interests of the EU to ensure that risks are adequately
monitored and addressed throughout the lifetime of the Recovery and Resilience
Facility.
•
•
•
In 2024 the Commission continued to bring improvements and clarifications to the way the
design of the facility is interpreted with its
‘Guidance
on recovery and resilience plans’, entailing
the following main points
(
105
).
•
A
framework for reductions and recoveries under the Recovery and Resilience Facility
that covers the grounds for reductions and recoveries under the Recovery and Resilience Facility
Regulation, including three different situations: (1) cases of fraud, corruption or conflict of
interests affecting the financial interests of the Union not corrected by the Member State; (2)
cases of a serious breach of an obligation of the financing agreement or loan agreement; (3)
cases where the information and justification underlying a payment request is found to be
incorrect (for example during ex post audits).
A guidance on how to identify and avoid any risk of double funding
was provided to
ensure the continued adequacy of controls. This clarified that, where it is established that an ex-
ante cost delineation is not feasible or excessively burdensome, combining support from the
Recovery and Resilience Facility and other EU funds on a pro-rata basis is possible as a last resort
and in exceptional cases, provided specific conditions are met.
•
In Annex II to the Recovery and Resilience Facility 2024 annual report (
106
), the Commission provided more
precision regarding the
eligibility of measures under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and
specifically the application of the retroactivity clauses included in the Recovery and Resilience
Facility Regulation
(Article 17(2)). The Commission clarified the rationale underpinning the guidance already
provided by the Commission to Member States on how to determine, during the assessment of the recovery
and resilience plans, when a measure has started. In Annex V of the report, the Commission gave
clarifications on the provisions regarding reporting on the 100 largest final recipients that aim at further
strengthening transparency thanks to the REPowerEU regulation, which introduced a requirement for the
(
105
) Commission notice
–
Guidance on recovery and resilience plans, C/2024/4618 of 22 July 2024,
https://commission.europa.eu/publications/updated-guidance-recovery-and-resilience-plans_en.
106
( ) Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the Recovery and
Resilience Facility, COM(2024) 474 final of 10 October 2024,
https://commission.europa.eu/publications/recovery-and-
resilience-facility-annual-report-2024_en.
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Member States to publish information on the 100 final recipients receiving the highest amounts of Recovery
and Resilience Facility funding.
2.2.
2.2.1.
Control results are predominantly positive
Full approval of the revised plans following their assessment
In the context of the revision of the recovery and resilience plans, the audit and control system of the
respective Member States were reassessed in 2024, taking into account all the new and additional
information obtained since the original assessment took place through the different audits carried out by the
Commission. In light of this information, the Commission considered whether the arrangements for the audit
and control system put forward by the Member States in the modified recovery and resilience plans were
(still) adequate. The Commission did not propose further audit and control milestones in the 2024
revisions (
107
). In 2025, to date one additional audit and control milestone was proposed. All 17 plan revisions
submitted in 2024 were adopted.
2.2.2.
Ex ante
controls at the payment stage
Positive assessment before payment of the satisfactory fulfilment of milestones and
targets
In 2024 the Commission assessed and paid 27 payment requests submitted by 22 Member States,
corresponding to 839 milestones and targets (600 milestones, 239 targets) (
108
). Based on these
assessments, 6 milestones and targets, out of 839 in total, were assessed as not satisfactorily fulfilled and
resulted in a suspension decision. These concerned the payment requests submitted by Belgium, Czechia,
Spain, Italy and Cyprus. In the cases of Belgium and Italy, while a suspension decision was adopted, no
suspensions occurred as the recovery and resilience plan was subsequently revised.
In 2024, the Commission partly lifted the suspensions of payments to Lithuania and Romania and fully lifted
that of Portugal in recognition of the progress made in the corresponding non-fulfilled milestones.
In the context of the assessment of milestones and targets the Commission has systematically introduced
checks regarding eligibility when approving the plans, where doubts arise regarding individual pieces of
evidence submitted by Member States, and when assessing payment requests. In order to further clarify the
application of the current provisions (
109
), in Annex II to the Recovery and Resilience Facility 2024 annual
report, the Commission provided more precision regarding the eligibility of measures under the Recovery and
Resilience Facility (
110
) and specifically the application of the retroactivity clauses included in the Recovery
and Resilience Facility Regulation (
111
).
(
107
) Seventeen recovery and resilience plan revisions were adopted, three of which included REPowerEU chapters
(
108
) In 2024, the Commission disbursed 41 payments, comprising 27 payments following a payment request, three
resulting from the lifting of previously suspended amounts, and 11 pre-financing. In the context of ex ante controls, it
is more relevant to refer to the 27 payments made following a payment request.
109
( ) Commission staff working document
–
Guidance to Member States
–
Recovery and resilience plans, SWD(2021) 12
final of 22 January 2021,
https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-5538-2021-INIT/en/pdf.
110
( ) Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the Recovery and
Resilience Facility, COM(2024) 474 final of 10 October 2024,
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52024DC0474.
(
111
) Article 17(2) of the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation.
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Positive assessment of the specific milestones on audit and control for all
Member States
Since the beginning of the Recovery and Resilience Facility implementation, a total of 83 audit and control
milestones have been incorporated into the recovery and resilience plans for 24 Member States. Out of these
83 audit and control milestones (out of which 10 were added in the revisions that took place in 2023 and one
in 2025),
50 were assessed by the Commission as satisfactorily fulfilled,
(by end of May 2025), in
the context of the assessment of the payment requests submitted by 21 Member States. The Commission
assessed the achievement of these milestones based on desk reviews and in-depth analysis of the evidence
provided by the Member States. Still, by end of May 2025, five audit and control milestones for three Member
States were under assessment as part of either the first or second payment request submission. The recently
added milestone in 2025 will be assessed as part of the next payment request. The remaining 27 audit and
control milestones were related to Hungary, which has yet to submit its first payment request.
Examples of such milestones are:
•
•
•
putting in place and implementing a repository system for monitoring the implementation of the
Recovery and Resilience Facility before the first payment is made;
entry into force of laws or decrees setting out legal mandates or defining audit and control
procedures;
creating and implementing an action plan regarding the prevention of conflict of interest in the
context of the Recovery and Resilience Facility and adopting an audit strategy ensuring independent
and effective auditing of the Recovery and Resilience Facility implementation.
In addition, as a follow-up to the positive assessment of the implemented audit and control milestones,
thirteen commitments were made by eleven Member States (Belgium, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Greece,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania and Finland) to ensure continuous fulfilment of the related audit and
control milestones. The Commission assessed the implementation of those commitments when assessing the
next payment request made after the expiration of the timeline for the commitment. To date, 11 of the 13
commitments have been implemented
–
three in 2022, two in 2023, three in 2024, and three in 2025, based
on the Commission’s preliminary assessment published alongside the
respective payment requests. Two
remaining commitments are under assessment, as the related payment requests are under analysis.
Analysis of management and audit summaries confirms the Commission’s initial
assessment
The Commission reviewed the management declarations and audit summaries accompanying the payment
requests submitted in 2024. For the five payments where funding was suspended in 2024 due to milestones
and targets not satisfactorily fulfilled, the review of management declarations and summaries of audits had
previously raised doubts about their fulfilment, which were then confirmed by the assessment of the
Commission.
2.2.3.
Ex post
audits on milestones and targets confirm the satisfactory
fulfilment of milestones and targets
In 2024, the Commission carried out 17 audits (
112
) on milestones and targets.
These audits are carried out on a risk basis, usually covering 100% of high-risk milestones and targets, along
with some medium-risk milestones and targets. The payment requests not audited included milestones and
(
112
) The first payment for Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland; the second payment for Denmark, Germany, Estonia,
Cyprus, Latvia and Malta; the third payment for Czechia, France and Lithuania; the fourth payment for Greece
(grants) and Spain; the fifth payment for Portugal; and the fifth and sixth payments for Italy.
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targets that were either low risk, related to measures audited in previous years, and/or had been audited by
national audit authorities providing reasonable assurance to the Commission. By end of May 2025, the
Commission had audited 60 milestones and targets in total, comprising of 46 high-risk milestones and
targets included in payment requests paid out in 2024, 13 medium-risk ones, and one with a low-risk.
In addition to verifying whether the respective milestone or target was satisfactorily fulfilled at the time of
the payment request assessment, ex-post audits also served to verify, when applicable, whether Member
States regularly check compliance with public procurement and State aid rules, including the effectiveness of
such checks. To this end, the Commission continued to use the enhanced comprehensive checklists on public
procurement and State aid which were rolled out since April 2023 (
113
).
Based on its audit work, for the payments assessed in 2024 the Commission found no evidence that the
audited milestones and targets were not satisfactorily fulfilled. Any other discrepancies identified between
the data declared and the data audited remained within the margin of 5% considered by the Commission for
its assessment (
114
). In case the Commission considers
ex post
that a milestone or a target was not reached, it
will initiate financial corrections to recover the undue part of the payment made. This has not happened for
the payments made in 2024.
2.2.4.
System audits on the protection of the financial interests of the EU
confirm the adequacy of systems in place
By the end of 2023, the Commission had audited all Member States through system audits on the protection
of the financial interests of the EU. In 2024, the Commission carried out two additional system audits on
Protection of Financial Interests of the Union (Belgium (
115
) and Lithuania (
116
)).
In line with its revised Audit Strategy, the Commission has developed a risk assessment methodology to be
applied annually to select Member States for further system audits on PFIU. Priority was given to Member
States where controls on public procurement and State aid were not carried out using the new comprehensive
checklists. On this basis, the Commission aims to carry out system audits on PFIU in six Member States in
2025. By end of May 2025, two audits were already performed (in France and Ireland).
By end of May 2025, the Commission performed 33 system audits, covering all Member States and 181
entities such as ministries or agencies, selected on a risk basis. In the context of these system audits and
other audit work, the Commission notably verified whether the Member States regularly check compliance
with State aid and public procurement rules, including the effectiveness of such checks. System audits also
covered procedures to avoid double funding between the Recovery and Resilience Facility and other EU
programmes.
Based on its ongoing audit work, the Commission observes a gradual overall improvement in the
implementation of the internal control systems across the audited implementing and coordinating bodies.
Member States are taking corrective measures in response to audit findings at the implementing body level
and the Commission continues to monitor its implementation. Good practices were identified, such as
procedures for the detection of possible fraud, corruption, conflict of interest and double funding, often
supported by the use of data mining tools such as ARACHNE. Other positive examples include staff training
programmes designed to raise awareness of fraud and corruption risks. Notable progress has also been
made regarding data collection in line with Article 22(2)(d) of the RRF Regulation. Nevertheless, areas for
further improvement remain, including strengthening fraud risk assessment, improving
ex ante
controls
(
113
) Approved in September 2023.
(
114
) A minimal deviation from amounts specified in a milestone/target is defined as around 5% or less.
(
115
) The system audit in Belgium specifically concerned the system of a particular federated entity that was not covered by the
first system audit on the PFIU.
116
( ) The main objective of the system audit performed in Lithuania was to follow-up on the PFIU audit already made in 2022, and
assess additional elements of the Member States' internal control systems in their capacity to ensure compliance with EU and
national law, as well as to prevent, detect and correct cases of conflict of interest, fraud, corruption, and double funding.
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aimed at preventing conflicts of interest, reinforcing procedures for verifying the absence of double funding,
compliance with publicity obligations, increasing participation in fraud-awareness training and enhancing the
reporting of irregularities to the European Anti-Fraud Office.
The Commission can give reasonable assurance regarding the protection of the EU’s financial interests from
fraud, corruption and conflicts of interest based on the outcomes of the system audit work carried out in
2024 and considering the results of the analysis of the management declarations and audit summaries
mentioned above, with the exception of one Member State (
117
).
2.2.5.
Controls on Member State obligation to ensure compliance with public
procurement and state aid rules
In line with the expanded scope of its audit work in response to the Court of Auditors 2023 Annual Report
(Chapter 11), the Commission has verified in all types of audits, where applicable,
Member States’ compliance
with their obligation under Article 22(2)(a) of the Recovery and Resilience Facility regulation. This includes
ensuring that the financing provided is properly used in accordance with all applicable EU and national rules,
particularly in the areas of public procurement and State aid, including the effectiveness of such checks. To
support this work, the Commission has applied comprehensive checklists on public procurement and State aid
across all its audit activities. These checklists were introduced in April 2023 (
118
). Furthermore, in September
2024, the Commission enhanced its audit methodology by introducing specific sampling requirements for
procurement procedures to be reviewed during audits, per implementing body.
In March 2025, the Court of Auditors issued its Special report 09/2025 on systems for ensuring compliance of
Recovery and Resilience Facility spending with public procurement and State aid rules. The Court of Auditors
acknowledged the positive developments as regards the enhanced checks on public procurement and State
aid with the use of comprehensive checklists and provided some targeted recommendations for further
improvement. The Commission is further finetuning its audit work in accordance with the accepted
recommendations. So far, the Commission has already implemented five out of the nine accepted or partially
accepted sub-recommendations.
With respect to State aid, checks on compliance remain the primary responsibility of Member States through
their internal control systems.
The Commission’s audits assess whether Member States have verified
compliance with the conditions of relevant schemes, such as the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER)
or State aid framework for Research and Development and Innovation (RDI), and whether such schemes have
been properly notified to the relevant Commission services. To address the Court of Auditors’ observations,
the Commissions audit checklist on state aid was amended in early 2025 to reflect this more clearly and
rolled out immediately.
The Commission
builds its assurance on Member States’ compliance with their obligation under Article
22(2)(a) of the Recovery and Resilience Facility regulation through its own audit work. In 2024 and the first
quarter of 2025, the audit work performed by the Commission included checks on public procurement and
State aid, where relevant, for all Member States that received a payment during 2024. These checks were
performed across all audit activities (system audits, mainly PFIU, compliance audits of national audit bodies,
ex-post audits on milestones and targets).
(
117
) Two individual cases of conflict of interests identified in Czechia.
(
118
) And they were formally approved in September 2023
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2.2.6.
Audits of the national audit authorities
In 2024, the Commission performed an increasing number of compliance audits , which assess the reliability
of the work performed by the national audit authorities (
119
), encompassing two key areas: 1) the audits of
national control systems, to ensure that national and EU rules are complied with, including public procurement
and State aid rules, and that the Union budget is protected, and (2) the audits of milestones and targets.
Furthermore, these audits include checks to verify that the national audit authorities are adequately
addressing the risk of double funding. This effort is aimed to strengthen further the effectiveness of the audit
work performed at national level while, in the spirit of the single audit approach, minimising the duplication of
audits and increasing the audit work efficiency overall.
Since January 2024, the Commission has conducted twelve compliance audits or combined audits with
compliance parts. Since the start of the facility to date, 20 Member States have undergone a compliance
audit or have been subject to an audit that included a compliance dimension. By the end of 2025, the
Commission plans to conduct compliance audits in the remaining Member States, with the objective of
achieving coverage of all Member States by year-end.
In many instances, findings regarding the work of the audit authorities identified areas for further
improvements. Examples of recommendations addressed to the national audit bodies relate to the need of
including deadlines for the implementation of their recommendations, better defining follow-up procedures,
improving audit manuals, checklists or documentation, improving verifications on public procurement
procedures or State aid rules and addressing staffing issues or issues with the assignment of audit staff.
In early 2025, the methodological framework defining the conditions under which the Commission can rely on
national audit work for ex-post audits of milestones and targets was refined. Under this framework, reliance by
the Commission on the work of national audit bodies is possible where Commission compliance audits result in
either an unqualified opinion or a qualified opinion with limited impact. In such cases, Commission auditors may
rely on the national audit bodies’ assessments and are not required to include in their
ex post
audit selection
any high-risk milestones and targets already assessed as satisfactorily fulfilled by those national bodies.
2.2.7.
Annual audit and management opinions
Based on the audit work described above, the Commission issued 22 annual audit opinions for the 22 Member
States that received payments, following the submission of a payment request in 2024 (
120
). These audit
opinions were then used in addition to any other available information to issue a management opinion for
each of the payments made in 2024 (
121
).
(
119
) Four dedicated compliance audits were conducted to Czechia, Bulgaria, Poland, and Finland. Additionally, compliance audit parts were
integrated in a system audit to Cyprus and in audits on milestones and targets to Germany, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania,
and Latvia.
(
120
)
The audit opinion is a formal assessment by the Commission’s responsible audit units on the Commission’s internal
control systems for the Recovery and Resilience Facility and is supported by detailed assessments per Member State
containing a summary of the information from the Commission’s own audits, the audits of other bodies, national
audit bodies, the Court of Auditors and the results of enquiries by the European Anti-Fraud Office.
121
( )
The audit opinions are used by the Commission’s operational units together with other sources of information at their
disposal (such as annual implementation meetings and reports) as a basis for the management opinion, which they
are required to provide to the authorising officer by delegation in charge of the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
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Both audit opinions and management opinions are used to support the conclusion on the overall declaration
of assurance. The audit opinions provide an opinion on the level of risk in relation to the legality and regularity
of the payment, on compliance with Article 22(2)a (
122
) and Article 22(5) (
123
) of the Recovery and Resilience
Facility Regulation. The management opinions give an opinion on the level of risk in relation to the legality
and regularity of the payments. Detailed information on the level of risk of each payment request is
presented in the table of Section 2.2.9.
2.2.8.
Ongoing work of the Court of Auditors in the context of the 2024
statement of assurance
The Commission’s assessment of the Court’s findings to conclude on the level of risk for the payments made
in 2024 is currently ongoing. By 30
April
2025, the Commission had received the clearing letters from the
Court of Auditors covering the 27 grant payments (
124
) made to 21 Member States in 2024. Since the Court
of Auditor’s findings may be used to determine the level of risk of the payments,
the Commission assessed
them when determining the level of risk for each payment made in 2024.
With respect to the concerned clearing letters, the Commission, after careful analysis, maintained its position
(based on its
ex ante
and
ex post
controls) that the milestones and targets included in the corresponding
payment requests had been satisfactorily achieved. Following one of these clearing letters, the Commission
sent a draft review report to a Member State on 20 May 2025 requesting additional information and
justification regarding the satisfactory fulfilment of the milestones and targets in a payment request,
pursuant to Article 12 of the RRF Financing Agreement.
2.2.9.
Qualitative assessment of the legality and regularity of payments and
of compliance with art. 22(2)(a) and art. 22(5) of the Recovery and
Resilience Facility Regulation indicates generally low/medium risk
The Commission’s
qualitative assessment as regards the legality and regularity of the payments is based on
a combination of results from: (1) the
Commission’s
ex ante assessment of the payment requests; (2) the
Commission’s
ex post audits on milestones and targets taking into account the risk profile of the milestones
and targets submitted; and (3)
the European Court of Auditors’ findings, if deemed acceptable.
As a result, the Commission determines a level of risk to the legality and regularity of each payment, and, for
each Member State, a level of risk to compliance with art. 22(2)(a) and art. 22(5) of the RRF Regulation. The
level of risk can be classified as low, medium or high.
The Commission’s conclusions per payment request received are summarised in the
following table:
(
122
) In accordance with Article 22(2)(a) of the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation, the Member State shall check
that the financing provided has been properly used in accordance with all applicable rules and that any measure for
the implementation of reforms and investment projects under the recovery and resilience plan has been properly
implemented in accordance with all applicable rules in particular regarding the prevention, detection and correction of
fraud, corruption and conflicts of interests.
123
( ) In accordance with Article 22(5) of the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation, the Commission may reduce
proportionately the non-repayable support under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and, where applicable, recover
any amount due to the EU budget in cases of fraud, corruption or conflicts of interest affecting the financial interests
of the EU that have not been corrected by the Member State, or a serious breach of an obligation resulting from this
agreement.
(
124
) The Court of Auditors does not select loans in their sample.
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Qualitative assessment payments made in 2024
Level of risk
Compliance with
Legality and regularity
Applicable
rules
(a)
Audit opinion
Low
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Medium
Low
Low
Medium
Medium
Low
Low
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Low
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Obligation to
correct
(b)
Audit opinion
Medium
High
High
Medium
Medium
Low
Medium
Low
Medium
Medium
Medium
Low
Low
Medium
Medium
Low
Low
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
Member State
Belgium
Czechia
Czechia
Denmark
Germany
Estonia
Ireland
Greece
Greece
Spain
France
Croatia
Croatia
Italy
Italy
Cyprus
Latvia
Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Poland
Portugal
Portugal
Romania
Slovenia
Slovakia
Finland
Payment
request
First
Second
Third
Second
Second
Second
First
Fourth (Loans)
Fourth (Grants)
Fourth
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Fifth
Sixth
Second
Second
First
Second
Third
Second
First
First
Second
Third/Fourth
Fifth
First
Third
Fourth
First
Audit
opinion
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Manage-
ment
opinion
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Overall
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
Notes to the table:
Applicable rules: Article 22(2)a of the Recovery and Resilience Facility regulation.
Obligation to correct: Article 22(5) of the Recovery and Resilience Facility regulation.
Source:
European Commission.
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Overall, the Commission concludes the following.
•
Regarding legality and regularity: the level of risk is low for all the payments made. Based on the
audits and controls carried out, none of the milestones and targets included in the payments made
were assessed as not satisfactorily fulfilled. The Commission carefully analysed the results of the
Court of Auditors audits for payments made in 2024 available as of the cut-off date of 27 May
2025 and maintained its position that the milestones and targets included in the corresponding
payment requests were satisfactorily achieved.
Regarding compliance with all applicable rules, namely public procurement and State aid (
125
) the
risk is medium level for 13 Member States (
126
) and a low level for the other Member States (
127)
.
Regarding the obligation to make corrections in cases of fraud, corruption or conflict of interest or a
serious breach of obligations resulting from the financing and loan agreements (
128
) the level of risk
is medium for 17 Member States (
129
) and a low level of risk for the other Member States (
130
)
except for Czechia for which the level of risk is high, on the basis of the audit results obtained which
identified two individual cases of conflict of interests. A financial reservation was therefore
introduced. The financial amount at risk for the two concerned projects amounts to EUR 17.5
million,
representing 0.74% of the payments made to Czechia in 2024.
•
2.2.10. The authorising officer by delegation for the facility confirmed they
had reasonable assurance
In their conclusions on the assurance for the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the officer (
131
) confirmed they
had reasonable assurance on:
•
the legality and regularity of the payments made in 2024 for the Recovery and Resilience Facility ,
based on the positive assessment of the evidence of the satisfactory fulfilment of the milestones and
targets provided in the payment requests, on
ex post
audit work on the milestones and targets and
also considering the outcomes of the audit work carried out by the Court of Auditors in the context of
its statement of assurance 2024 (for clearing letters received and assessed by 27 May 2025);
public procurement and State aid, the respect of the obligation of Member States laid down in
Article 22(2)(a) of the RRF Regulation to regularly check that the financing provided in the context of
the underlying transactions has been properly used in accordance with all applicable rules, including
the effectiveness of these checks, and that any measure for the implementation of reforms and
investment projects under the recovery and resilience plan has been properly implemented in
accordance with all applicable rules in particular regarding the prevention, detection and correction
of fraud, corruption and conflicts of interests; and
the implementation of Article 22(5) of the RRF Regulation on the proportionate reduction of the
support under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and recovery of any amount due to the Union
budget or the request for early repayment of the loan, in cases of fraud, corruption, and conflicts of
interests affecting the financial interests of the Union that have not been corrected by the Member
State, or a serious breach of an obligation resulting from the agreements referred to in
Articles 15(2) and 23(1) of the RRF Regulation with the exception of one Member State , as
described in Section 2.2.9 for which a reservation was issued.
•
•
(
125
) Article 22(2)(a) of the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation.
(
126
) Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
(
127
) Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands and Spain.
(
128
) Article 22(5) of the Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation.
(
129
)
Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece (grants), Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.
130
( ) Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece (loans), and Latvia.
(
131
) The Director-General for Economic and Financial Affairs has been designated as the authorising officer by delegation
for the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
148