The Recovery and Resilience Facility and the Foreign Subsidies Instrument
1.12.2021
Question for written answer E-005356/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Liesje Schreinemacher (Renew), Malik Azmani (Renew), Caroline Nagtegaal (Renew), Jan Huitema (Renew), Bart Groothuis (Renew), Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew), Marie-Pierre Vedrenne (Renew), Nicola Danti (Renew), Morten Løkkegaard (Renew), Karen Melchior (Renew)
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) supports Member States impacted by the COVID-19-pandemic and makes available EUR 723.8 billion in loans and grants. The plans submitted thus far are largely based on public expenditure and follow standard European public procurement procedures, open to companies from inside and outside the EU.
Meanwhile, EU companies face unfair competition from foreign companies which receive State aid. This distorts the EU procurement market, which the legislative proposal on distortive foreign subsidies aims to address. Furthermore, the International Procurement Instrument, which will be negotiated soon, aims to address the lack of reciprocity on procurement markets, and the EU’s strategic interests can be put at risk when tenders in strategic sectors are won by foreign state-owned enterprises.
- 1.Does the Commission perceive it as a risk that foreign enterprises which are either state-owned or receive State aid could access a significant portion of the RRF through unfair competition and, if so, will the Commission take measures?
- 2.Will the Commission take the new legislative proposals on public procurement into account in relation to the payment of RRF funds?
- 3.Does the Commission deem it necessary to adopt interim measures before the Foreign Subsidies Instrument enters into force?