The Recovery and Resilience Facility is the centrepiece of Next Generation EU. It will be disbursed as loans (€ 360 bln) and grants (€ 312.5 bln) to support reforms and investments undertaken by the EU Member States. Its main aim is to help achieve an economic and social recovery, resilience and convergence, especially against the background of the green and digital transitions.
To access the Facility, Member States need to prepare National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRP) setting out their reform and public investment agendas to be implemented between 2021 and 2026. The plans will have to dedicate at least:
37% of expenditure to support
green investment and reforms
20% of expenditure to support
digital investment and reforms
National Recovery and Resilience Plans should prioritise the following seven European Flagships areas for investments and reforms, identified in the 2021 Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy.
| European Flagships | Possible investment opportunities for the sport sector |
|---|---|
| Power Up. Clean technologies and renewables |
Facilitate the use of renewable energy and waste heat in large sport facilities (i.e. a network of sport infrastructures at national level). |
| Renovate. Energy efficiency of buildings |
Renovate outdated sport infrastructure to increase the energy and resource efficiency. |
| Recharge and refuel. Sustainable transport and charging stations |
Create alternative mobility frameworks (e.g. cycle highways) in cities and urban agglomerations. |
| Connect. Roll-out broadband services |
|
| Modernise. Digitalisation of public administration and services |
Build capacities for the development of novel tools such as AI or Internet of Things for sport and physical activity to encourage healthier lifestyles. |
| Scale-up. Increase in European data cloud capacities and sustainable processors |
Support the development of cutting-edge European interconnected and energy efficient cloud to edge data centres for the public sector, including sport organisations. |
| Reskill and upskill. Education and training to support digital skills and climate transformation |
Support the development of both direct and soft skills through sport training curricula in dedicated centres, using sport’s wide engagement with social groups. |
An allocation key will fix a maximum amount possible for the grant component for each Member State. In order to disburse 70% of the total € 312.5 bn available as grants, the allocation key will take into account for each Member State:
For the remaining 30%, the allocation formula will replace the average unemployment rate by the observed loss in real GDP over 2020 and the observed cumulative loss in real GDP over 2020-2021.
The European Commission published the RRF maximum grant allocations per Member State.
The maximum volume of loans for each Member State will not exceed 6.8% of its Gross National Income (GNI).
The Regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility provides that the process of drafting the NRRPs should involve consultations with stakeholders from a wide range of economic sectors, including local and regional authorities. As a result, sport stakeholders should ensure their voice is heard in the public consultations in their countries and that the sport sector has a seat at the negotiating table.
NRRPs must propose credible narratives with facts and figures explaining how the overarching RRF’s objectives
will be attained through the proposed reforms and investments.
Sport stakeholders have the clear opportunity to make the case for sport and physical activity as important
contributors to the green transition through sustainable transport, active lifestyle, citizens' resilience and soft skills development.
The RRF 37% spending quota on climate transformation paves the way for strategic investment in the sport and wider
physical activity sector.
The RRF Regulation acknowledges the indispensable role that local communities play in the successful implementation of the Facility, especially in the green and digital transitions. Local sport stakeholders should contact their local and regional authorities to ensure local support for their narrative around sport, and thus a better place in the public consultations for the NRRPs.
Sport stakeholders active at national level are encouraged to extend the scope of the recovery plan for the sport sector as part of the Member State’s national contribution to the Facility’s objectives. National sport associations must reach out to their own national governments to propose a recovery strategy for sport at national level. The commitment of local and regional actors is an important advantage in this endeavour.
Sport stakeholders should analyse the content of the NRRP once public (or demand their national government to consult it), namely the general measures related to digitalisation of services and activities, greening the overall economy, reskilling and the creation of jobs. The sport sector can still benefit from these general measures, as sport and physical activity remain important contributors and strategic sectors to invest in, in order to fulfil the overarching EU policy objectives.