Commission greenlights Germany’s third payment request for €4.6 billion under NextGenerationEU

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Today, the Commission positively assessed Germany’s third payment request for €4.6 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.

This is an important step in the delivery of the reforms and investments tied to this payment request, in the areas of research and innovation for the green transition, greening of transport and housing, public administration reform and digitalisation, as well as education and training.

The Commission found that Germany has satisfactorily completed the 5 milestones and 17 targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision.

Flagship measures in this payment include:

• Promoting the green transition with energy-efficient renovations for over 155,000 buildings and supporting the purchase of almost 400,000 electric vehicles – bringing the total number of subsidised vehicles under the German recovery and resilience plan to nearly 1 million. This also includes expanding access to over 2,500 publicly accessible recharging stations.
• Promoting an efficient and digital public administration, through a joint ‘Bund/Länder’ programme, optimising planning and approval process, while enhancing access to public funding.  In addition, dedicated legislation – the Online Access Act – will further cut red tape by digitising 40 state-level services for citizens and businesses.
• Increasing innovation and prosperity by funding hydrogen research projects under Germany’s National Hydrogen Strategy, which will help to overcome economic and technological barriers related to this clean energy source.

Next steps

The Commission has now sent its preliminary assessment of Germany’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Council’s Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to Germany can take place following the EFC’s opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission later.

Background

Germany submitted its payment request on 16 February 2026. The German recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures supporting climate and digital transition objectives, such as the digital modernisation of the public administration, the energy efficiency renovation of buildings and the support to electric cars.

The plan will be financed by €30 billion in grants.

This payment request will bring the funds paid out to Germany under the Recovery and Resilience Facility to €24.4 billion, including €2.3 billion in pre-financing. This amount corresponds to 80% of all funds included in the German recovery and resilience plan, with 79% of all milestones and targets in the plan now fulfilled.

With a view to the closure of the Facility at the end of 2026, Members States must implement all outstanding milestones and targets by 31 August 2026 and submit last payment requests by the end of September 2026.

For more information

Commission’s preliminary assessment of Germany’s third payment request

Germany’s recovery and resilience plan

Recovery and Resilience Facility

Recovery and Resilience Facility project map

Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation

Recovery and Resilience payment claim process

EU as a borrower