The European Commission has approved Belgium’s second payment request for €909 million under the post-Covid recovery plan.
The EU executive released the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds after a positive preliminary assessment of the country's request for the second installment.
The RRF is a grant programme to help countries recover from the Covid-19 pandemic worth €648 billion. Member States had to submit national plans setting out the various stages to be achieved (milestones and targets in the jargon) in order to obtain funding.
Belgium's plan is worth €5.3 billion and covers measures in the field of sustainable development, digital transition and economic and social reforms. In total, Belgium is planning 40 reforms and 119 investments.
Belgium is at the bottom of the European league when it comes to the tranches of the plan that have already been released.
An initial payment of €943 million was not validated by the Commission until the beginning of July 2024. Belgium requested a second payment at the end of July, which has now been approved, as the 38 milestones and 8 targets concerned have been met, according to the Commission.
Prime Minister Bart De Wever pictured during a plenary session of the Chamber at the Federal Parliament in Brussels, Thursday 03 April 2025. Credit: Belga / Eric Lalmand
The key measures include investments in rail infrastructure, such as the removal of bottlenecks on the Brussels-Luxembourg line, the addition of more than 6,000 bicycle spaces in Flanders and improved accessibility at five stations.
Another initiative is the roll-out of 5G through the auctioning of frequency bands and the updating of radiation standards. This reform has increased Belgium's 5G coverage from just 4% in 2021 to 40% in 2023, thus reducing the gap with the EU average.
The Commission has yet to forward its assessment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which will then have four weeks to formulate its opinion. The payment to Belgium can then be made once the Commission has adopted a decision to that effect.
