Commission greenlights Finland's final payment request for €331 million under NextGenerationEU

Today, the European Commission greenlighted Finland's sixth and final payment request for €331 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU. With this final payment request, Finland reaches 100% of reforms and investments linked to its RRF plan, corresponding to €1.95 billion.

This final request completes the delivery of six reforms and 19 investments under the Finnish plan that will drive positive change for citizens and businesses in Finland in the areas of research, decarbonisation, digitalisation, clean mobility, healthcare, green permitting and education.

The Commission found that Finland has satisfactorily fulfilled the 17 milestones and 9 targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision.

Flagship measures in this payment request include:

• Driving clean research and innovation: creating new opportunities for research in strategic areas such as industrial decarbonisation, carbon capture, and renewable hydrogen.
• Strengthening competitiveness: investing in industrial electrification while strengthening the digitalisation and export capacity of micro and small enterprises.
• Advancing the clean energy transition: accelerating the deployment of wind and solar energy, while expanding grid connections and energy storage capacity. The introduction of digital environmental permitting services will also help shorten approval times for renewable energy investments.
• Modernising lifelong learning: expanding services and opportunities for continuous learning to support the digital transition and ensure a just transition towards a carbon-neutral society.

Next steps

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

Background

Finland submitted its payment request on 29 September 2026.

The Finnish recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures supporting climate and digital transition objectives, underpinned by €1.95 billion in grants.

The Finnish Recovery and Resilience plan has a strong emphasis on investments in the areas of energy and decarbonisation, transport, research and development, social and health services, as well as a limited number of important reforms.

Key reforms and investments focus on faster environmental permits and renewable energy capacity, research and development for the green transition, availability and accessibility of social welfare and healthcare services, and strengthened public employment services.

Today's payment request would bring the total funds paid to Finland under the RRF to €1.95 billion. This means that 100% of the funding allocated to Finland under its recovery and resilience plan will be delivered once the Council has also greenlighted the payment request, with all 137 milestones and targets successfully fulfilled.

For more information

Commission's preliminary assessment of Finland's sixth payment request

Finland's recovery and resilience plan

Recovery and Resilience Facility

Recovery and Resilience Facility project map

Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard

Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation

EU as a borrower