Today, the European Commission positively assessed the Netherlands' third payment request of €551 million in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), 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 innovation, education and energy efficiency of homes.
The Commission found that the Netherlands has satisfactorily completed 15 milestones and 9 targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision .
Flagship measures in this payment request include:
- Innovation and education support: boosting quantum computing, promoting research and skills development in the quantum field, and launching projects to improve digital education solutions.
- Major investments in housing and energy efficiency: the largest investment of the Dutch recovery and resilience plan , with over 600,000 energy-saving upgrades for homes across the Netherlands, and funding for building new residential properties.
- Significant health and economic reforms: establishing a National Health Reserve of former healthcare workers for emergencies and planning the transition to a new pension system.
Next steps
The Commission has now sent its preliminary assessment of the Netherland's fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to the Netherlands can take place following the EFC's opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission later.
Background
The Netherlands submitted its third payment request on 11 December 2025. The Netherlands' recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures. The plan will be financed by €5.44 billion in grants. This payment request will bring the funds paid out to the Netherlands under the RRF to €3.07 billion, corresponding to 56.4% of all funds in its national plan, with 60.5% of all milestones and targets in the plan now fulfilled.
With a view to the closure of the Recovery and Resilience Facility at the end of 2026, Members States must implement all outstanding milestones and targets by August 2026 and submit last payment requests by the end of September.
