Athens: The Recovery and Resilience Facility has reached the point where the deadlines decide everything. The Commission published its fifth annual report on the facility on 7 October 2026 and reported that it has paid out €450 billion in grants and loans, close to 80% of what member states requested. The remaining money under the Recovery and Resilience Facility must leave Brussels before the year ends.

Member states had until 31 August 2026 to complete their reforms and investments and until 30 September to file payment requests. According to the report, every government has now sent its final request. The Commission is assessing the last 32 requests, and it must disburse the remaining €123 billion, about 21% of the envelope, by 31 December 2026.

The workload behind that figure is large. Governments have worked toward almost 6,000 milestones and targets under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The Commission counts 4,082 as fulfilled and 1,899 as still under assessment, so officials face a long list of judgments in a short window. Each judgment decides whether a payment goes out in full or shrinks.

The Commission also claims results from the Recovery and Resilience Facility. It estimates that €140 billion went to digital projects and that each euro invested could generate €1.5 of EU economic output by 2030. For the green transition, it puts spending at €287 billion and estimates annual greenhouse gas savings of 1.5% of EU emissions against a 2021 baseline, with reforms adding another 1.4%. These figures are the Commission’s own estimates, not independent findings.

The report lists examples from the capitals. Estonia digitalised ten services tied to life events such as a name change or a divorce, Greece introduced electronic payments to reduce paperwork for businesses, and Italy pushed through a broad reform of its justice system. Czechia expects to save at least 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year through low-emission heating and renewables.

Auditors take a harder line. The European Court of Auditors found that the Commission’s own estimate for 2026 proved too low, since it expected €70.1 billion in payments for the year in July 2024 while €122.4 billion remains. The Court also found irregularities in €45.4 billion of spending, including unmet targets and double funding. In March 2026, the Commission responded to similar pressure by cutting the number of targets by an average of 20% and letting governments split large projects into phases.

For finance ministries, the lesson is practical. A project that misses a milestone can lose money, and the calendar leaves little room for second chances. The Recovery and Resilience Facility will end as a test of delivery, and the final tally of those 32 requests will show how much of the €123 billion actually arrives.