Estonia's National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Latest state of play

Estonia's Recovery and Resilience Plan – one of the last such plans submitted to the European Commission – sets out the reforms and public investment projects that Estonia intends to implement with the support of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The RRF is one of the main components of Next Generation EU, an EU instrument to counter the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Estonia's plan is one of the smallest in the EU in terms of the total amount allocated. However, when taking into account its number of inhabitants, the country is a medium-sized beneficiary. Initially, Estonia requested €982.5 million in grants (so far, it has not requested RRF loans); the Council agreed to make €969.3 million available to Estonia, of which the allocation for 2021 and 2022 is €759.5 million and is already final. However, the remaining amount of money that is available might still change until June 2022, depending on the updated data on Estonia's gross domestic product (GDP) compared to other EU countries. Estonia's plan represents 0.1 % of the entire RRF, equal to 3.5 % of the country's GDP in 2019 (the RRF being 5.2 % of EU-27 GDP in 2019). The reforms and investments included in Estonia's plan should be completed by 2026. Its key focus is on the green and digital transitions, the resilience and accessibility of the healthcare system, and social inclusion. The plan could increase Estonia's GDP by between 0.8 % and 1.3 % and help to create up to 4 000 additional jobs by 2026. The Council approved Estonia's plan on 25 October 2021. The European Commission disbursed €126 million in pre-financing on 17 December 2021. The next payments, in seven instalments, will depend on progress in implementing the investments and reforms. The European Parliament, which was a great supporter of the creation of a common EU recovery instrument, participates in interinstitutional cooperation and discussions on its implementation, and scrutinises the work of the European Commission. This briefing is one in a series covering all EU Member States. First edition. The 'NGEU delivery' briefings are updated at key stages throughout the lifecycle of the plans.