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Latvia’s fourth supporting request for €371 million under the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) plan has been agreed by the Commission with the previously settled recovery-resilience’s 24 milestones and 17 targets. Latvian reforms and investments (tied to the payment request) are expected to drive positive change for the citizens and businesses in the areas of energy efficiency, flood risk management, health, digital transition and anti-money laundering.
Background
Latvian government delivered its fourth payment request to the Commission at the end of 2025; the country’s national recovery/resilience plan (totaled by €1.9 billion) includes a wide range of investment and reform measures, supporting social, climate and digital transition objectives.
With the Commission’s positive assessment, the payment request will bring the funds paid to Latvia under the RRF to €1.46 billion: it includes €264 million in pre-financing (received already in September 2021) and €135 million pre-financing under REPowerEU program. This support corresponds to 74% of all the funds in the Latvian RRF’s plan, with 69% of all the milestones and targets in the plan fulfilled.
Source: https://reforms-investments.ec.europa.eu/document/download/2891360f-4a10-4120-a0ed-63e42468be3c_en?filename=Preliminary%20assessment%20of%20Latvia%E2%80%99s%20fourth%20payment%20request.pdf
The EU RRFacility entered into force on 19 February 2021; it finances reforms and investments in the EU states made from during February 2020 until the end of 2026. Countries can receive financing up to a previously agreed maximum amount. With the closure of the Facility at the end of 2026, the members states must implement all outstanding milestones and targets by August 2026 and submit last payment requests by the end of September.
In the next final steps, the Commission sends a preliminary assessment of Latvia’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Council’s Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to Latvia can take place following the EFC’s opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_716
The EU supporting programs and plans
The European Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), as a temporary instrument of the bigger EU recovery instrument -the NextGenerationEU plan, which is a basic element of the bigger (also temporary) financial “instrument” to support the EU-wide economic recovery from the time of the last pandemic and proceeding to the EU’s greener, more digital and more resilient future. The RRF financial resources (through 2021-26), consist of: a) €360 billion of grants, out of which €338 billion will be financed through borrowing operations (the states will also receive additional RRF grants of €20.0 billion financed under the Emissions Trading System (ETS,) and €2 billion under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR); and b) about €217 billion of loans (out of the initial total available RRF “loan envelope” of €385 billion). In addition, up to €83.1 billion of NextGenerationEU funds are being used to reinforce several existing EU support programs, such as the Just Transition Fund, Horizon Europe, InvestEU, RescEU and ReactEU.
More in: https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/eu-budget/eu-borrower-investor-relations/nextgenerationeu_en
The Commission aims to fund up to 30% of NextGenerationEU by issuing the “Green Bonds”; these borrowing on global capital markets’ efforts are expected to make the Commission the largest green bonds issuer in the world.
Based on the EU state requests for funding under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the funding needs of other EU programs supported by NextGenerationEU, the EU expects to raise up to €637 billion by end 2026 (out of a maximum initial 2021program of €806.9 billion.
On the European RRF
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is a temporary instrument that is the centrepiece of the NextGenerationEU -the EU’s plan to make the states’ economies stronger and more resilient from the pandemic crisis-2019.
Through the Facility, the Commission raises funds by borrowing on the capital markets (issuing bonds on behalf of the EU). These are then available to its Member States, to implement ambitious reforms and investments that:
= make their economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and prepared for the green and digital transitions, in line with the EU’s priorities;
= address the challenges identified in country-specific recommendations under the European Semester framework of economic and social policy coordination.
More on borrowing in: https://www.integrin.dk/2026/02/13/new-european-syndicated-loan-the-eu-bonds-borrowing/
Note. The total financial envelope of the RRF at end-January 2026 stood at € 577 billion. This breaks down to €360 billion in grants and €217 billion in loans: €360 billion in grants is split in €338 billion from the original RRF financial allocation, €20 billion stemming from the auctioning of allowances under the Emissions Trading System (ETS) and €2 billion in grants from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR). Of the total available envelope of €385 billion, about €291 billion had been committed by end 2023; of this, €74 billion were de-committed by end-January 2026 as eight EU states downscaled their loan envelope, bringing the committed loan support to €217 billion. This is in line with the Commission’ recommendation, in the Communication “NextGenerationEU “The road to 2026, in June 2025” for the EU states to prioritise securing the grants allocation.
Source: https://reforms-investments.ec.europa.eu/recovery-and-resilience-facility-1_en
Financing Latvian recovery/resilience implementation
The plan includes the following measures to be financed by the EU RRF in this payment request: = national enhanced early warning system, reducing fire rescue service response times through streamlined emergency protocols;
= new support programs to boost research and internationalisation, covering competence centres, research networks, cross-border cooperation and participation in Important Projects of Common European Interest;
= transparent healthcare remuneration model, introducing standardised wage calculations to ensure fairness for medical staff;
= modernised cancer care framework, with new methodological guidelines, improving treatment standards and patient comfort through evidence-based practices; and
= rules for energy communities and self-consumption, enabling citizens to establish, join and benefit from shared renewable energy projects.
More on LV’s plan in: https://reforms-investments.ec.europa.eu/latvias-recovery-and-resilience-plan_en
Supporting Latvian digital transition
Among digital challenges in Latvia are: improving basic digital skills, increasing the uptake of digital solutions by businesses as well as alleviating the shortage of information and communication technology specialists, which currently impacts workforce availability, competitiveness, resilience, use of government e-services and innovation alike.
Latvia’s recovery and resilience plan supports the digital transition with investments in the digitalisation of public administration and services (€129 million).
The key measures for the digital transition include:
= Measures to improve the digitalisation of small and medium sized enterprises (€125 million) support the digital transformation of businesses and create a better environment for research and innovation.
= Investments to deploy high-speed broadband shall help further improve digital infrastructure (€16.5 million).
= Reforms for digital upskilling aim at improving the basic and advanced digital skills of citizens, enterprises and public administration (€95 million).
= Investments in the digitalisation of the country’s public administration and public services.
= Digital transition for businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises, support for the development of high-tech digital products and services, and the introduction of Industry 4.0 solutions in production processes.
= Investments to deploy high-speed broadband, complemented by reforms for the digital upskilling of the country’s workforce.
Reference to: https://reforms-investments.ec.europa.eu/latvias-recovery-and-resilience-plan_en#digital-transition