Commission greenlights Sweden’s final payment request of €332.8 million under NextGenerationEU

September 1, 2026 by The Sting's Team Leave a Comment

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank. — (Credit: Unsplash)

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

Today, the European Commission positively assessed Sweden’s third and final payment request for €332.8 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.

With this third and final payment request, Sweden becomes the second Member State to reach 100% of reforms and investments linked to its recovery and resilience plan – corresponding to €3.45 billion – ahead of the end-of-September deadline.

This marks a major milestone in the implementation of the RRF and shows Sweden’s commitment to delivering reforms and investments under its national recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission found that Sweden has satisfactorily completed the outstanding 6 targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision.

The final request completes the delivery of reforms and investments under the Swedish plan, including in areas of the clean transition and education.

Flagship measures in this payment request include:

Promoting the industrial clean transition through the “Industry Leap” initiative, which supports projects that develop and deploy innovative technologies with zero, low or negative greenhouse gas emissions in the industrial sector.
Improving energy efficiency in multi-dwelling buildings by supporting renovations that enhance their energy performance and reduce energy demand.
Supporting additional enrolment in higher education by funding extra study places at universities and other higher education institutions, particularly in programmes preparing students for shortage occupations.

Next steps

The Commission has sent its preliminary assessment of Sweden’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 Sweden can take place following the EFC’s opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission later.

Background

Sweden submitted its third payment request on 2 July 2026. Sweden’s recovery and resilience plan has a strong focus on the clean transition and is comprehensive, with a good balance between investments and reforms. Key reforms include speeding up the authorisation process for electricity grid development, the abolition of a reduced energy tax on fuels in certain sectors, amendments to the employment protection act to facilitate labour market transitions, and a pension system reform. Key investments include climate investments, energy efficiency improvements in multi-dwelling buildings, new rental dwellings, additional study places in vocational and higher education, and broadband expansion.

Today’s payment request will bring the total funds paid out to Sweden under the Recovery and Resilience Facility to €3.45 billion. This means that 100% of the funding allocated to Sweden under its recovery and resilience plan will be delivered once the Council has also greenlighted the payment request, with all 59 milestones and targets successfully fulfilled.

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

For more information

Commission’s preliminary assessment of Sweden’s second payment request

Sweden’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 Facility – questions and answers

EU as a borrower

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