Implementing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) in the spotlight of the Committee on Audit

Press release, 21 December 2023  

Photos by the Office of the Seimas

The Seimas Committee on Audit, as part of its ongoing parliamentary scrutiny, held a meeting with Dr Laima Andrikienė, Member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA), to discuss the most pressing issues related to the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Ms Andrikienė presented the audits completed, carried out and planned by the ECA on the RRF and stressed that the ECA was paying close attention to this matter, because ‘the RRF, with almost EUR 724 billion, is an unprecedented instrument, and the expectations as regards its performance must be justified’.

However, in discussing the most relevant information presented by her, the Member of the ECA stressed that the RRF should aim for change and impact rather than just absorption of funds. ‘Our audit of the RRF’s performance monitoring framework did not confirm the European Commission’s ambition that the performance model of the RRF is effective, where payments to Member States are based on the achievement of pre-agreed indicators rather than on the reimbursement of eligible expenditure. The RRF’s performance monitoring framework measures implementation progress, but it is not sufficient to capture performance,’ Ms Andrikienė said in presenting the audit report.

The Committee also discussed Lithuania’s progress in implementing the indicators of the Next Generation Lithuania plan as part of the Recovery and Resilience Fund. When introducing this matter to the Committee, the representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Project Management Agency drew attention of the Committee to the indicators the achievement of which had been lagging behind and those that were considered to be at high risk of non-implementation or inadequate implementation. ‘Failure to achieve the indicators on time would mean that Lithuania would not receive all the funds necessary to implement the planned reforms or investment projects. Consequently, Lithuania would have to look for other sources of funding, which could have an impact on the increase in the public debt,’ said Zigmantas Balčytis, Chair of the Committee on Audit.

In response to the information provided by the institutions, the Committee on Audit decided to proceed with its parliamentary scrutiny of the issue and to analyse, at the 8th (Spring) Session of the Seimas, at the level of selected reforms and individual investments, the indicators whose delivery is delayed or is at risk of not being achieved on time. The Committee also urged the Government to immediately take measures to strengthen the periodic performance monitoring of the Plan’s indicators provided for in the Plan.

A video of the Committee’s meeting is available on the Seimas website and on the YouTube account Atviras Seimas (Open Seimas).

Zigmantas Balčytis, Chair of the Committee on Audit, tel.+370 5 209 6736