Flexibility in the use of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) in relation to funding of European Defence Investment Programme (EDIP) projects

Question for written answer E-003796/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Jean-Marc Germain (S&D), Victor Negrescu (S&D)

With Member States having just one year left to submit payment requests under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), it is essential to ensure this unprecedented solidarity instrument is used to its full potential.

In its communication entitled 'NextGenerationEU - The road to 2026'[1], the Commission suggests that the RRF may contribute to the future EDIP provided that a relevant provision is included in the EDIP regulation.

• 1.Could the Commission clarify the rationale that would allow the RRF to finance EDIP projects without having to amend the RRF Regulation's[2] legal basis, and explain how the quality of such investment would be ensured, especially if the sole act of transferring RRF funds to the EDIP is deemed sufficient to fulfil the related milestones, and would this not also risk diluting the original purpose of the RRF?
• 2.Meanwhile, Parliament's proposal to extend the RRF deadline by 18 months for more mature projects was only partly taken on board, as it was claimed that a revision of the Own Resources Decision[3] was needed for the deadline to be changed. Could the Commission substantiate the logic behind this double standard and explain why the flexibility shown in the EDIP case cannot be applied to support the effective delivery of RRF projects that have proven to be successful?

Submitted: 30.9.2025

• [1] Commission communication of 4 June 2025 entitled 'NextGenerationEU - The road to 2026' (COM(2025)0310).
• [2] OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 17, ELI: https://http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/241/oj (https://http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/241/oj).
• [3] OJ L 424, 15.12.2020, p. 1, ELI: https://http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2020/2053/oj (https://http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2020/2053/oj).