'Recovery and Resilience' - How that looks from the east

Preparations are in full swing to spend the €724 billion available from the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), as most member states have secured the European Commission’s endorsement for their national recovery and resilience plans (NRRPs). The commission however keeps postponing approval of the NRRPs of Hungary and Poland , as a further step in the slowburning con"ict between EU institutions and the illiberal governments of those two countries. Member states in central and eastern Europe (CEE) have been the main net bene$ciaries of EU budgets since their accessions. Amid the tug-of-war between the commission and certain of their governments, it is worth exploring the impact of previous EU budgets on the region and whether the RRF might represent a departure from earlier spending patterns.