On 6 September 2021, the European Economic and Social Committee organised a hearing devoted to implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs). One of the key speakers at the event was ECR First Vice-President Rob Jonkman, the rapporteur of the European Committee of the Regions on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

The aim of the RRF is to mitigate the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and make European economies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions. The Facility makes EUR 672.5 billion (at 2018 prices) available in loans and grants to support reforms and investments undertaken by Member States. 

To benefit from the support of the Facility, Member States have to submit their recovery and resilience plans to the European Commission. Each plan sets out the reforms and investments to be implemented by end of 2026.

The ECR First Vice-President, who also serves as an Alderman in Opsterland in the Netherlands, expressed his disappointment at the fact that the national plans are created by central governments without sufficient involvement of local and regional authorities:

"In most Member States local and regional authorities are in the difficult position of implementing recovery plans for which they were never sufficiently consulted, leading to a merely centralised, top-down process. This conflicts with the importance of multilevel governance and the process of economic decentralisation of competences which has taken place in many Member States in recent decades".

Alderman Jonkman concluded by saying that as the CoR spokesperson on the topic, he is proposing several concrete solutions to improve the position of local and regional authorities in the implementation process. In the short term, he proposes that the European Commission incorporate the role of local and regional authorities in the agreements with the Member States on the operational aspects of the NRRPs and the contracts on loans from the RRF. He also proposes that the European Commission present guidelines to the Member States for the involvement of regions and cities in the implementation of the NRRPs. In the long term, he proposes the establishing of a Code of Conduct on the Partnership Principle in the European Semester. 

Mr Jonkman also underscored the importance of the High Level Forum on Recovery to be held in Lipica on 24 September 2021 by the Slovenian Presidency: "an important milestone for our work, with the presence of several ministers from the Council Presidency, CoR Members and MEPs, our aim is to discuss how to secure a more multi-level approach taking into account the role and responsibilities of local and regional authorities." 

Among the key speakers of the Forum in Lipica will be ECR Members Rob Jonkman and Juraj Droba, President of the Bratislava Self-Governing Region in Slovakia.