Next Generation EU

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has burdened European citizens with health issues, the loss of lives, social unrest and economic uncertainty. The EU and its Member States have had to make unprecedented efforts to protect their citizens and overcome the immediate and long-term effects of the crisis. To this end, a major recovery plan was proposed by the European Commission to immediately address the socio-economic damage created by the pandemic and to start building a more resilient, sustainable and healthier society capable of better facing future global health and economic threats.

The recovery plan is to be implemented via a new temporary recovery instrument branded Next Generation EU (NGEU), on top of the long-term budget of the European Union for 2021-2027 (earmarked at €1100 billion). In July 2020, the European Council agreed to issue European sovereign bonds, allowing the European Commission to borrow € 750 billion on the financial markets which will fund the Next Generation EU package over the next 3 to 6 years. As such, Next Generation EU along with targeted reinforcements of the long-term EU budget for 2021-2027 will bring the total EU financial expenditure to €1.85 trillion, making it the largest EU budget ever agreed. NGEU is to be disbursed as grants (€390 billion) and loans (€360 billion). The funding raised for Next Generation EU will be channelled through both existent EU programmes and brand-new instruments.

Next Generation EU offers several possibilities for the sport sector to benefit from its various recovery mechanisms, not only as a hard-hit sector in need of reconstruction, but also as a strategic sector with a meaningful impact in Europe’s wider economic, resilience and social recovery process.