EU’s multi-billion COVID fund not transparent enough

Special report 14/2026

Press release

Luxembourg, 6 May 2026

EU’s multi-billion COVID fund not transparent enough

€577 billion COVID recovery fund is based on financing not linked to costs
Information on recipients, actual costs and results achieved is insufficient
Gaps in transparency and traceability must be plugged in future EU budgets

The EU’s flagship pandemic recovery fund, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), suffers from gaps in the traceability and transparency of spending, according to a new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). Public information on recipients of money, actual costs of measures and results achieved is insufficient. The auditors’ critical findings come at a time when EU lawmakers negotiate the bloc’s next seven-year budget, which is inspired by the RRF spending model of ‘financing not linked to costs’.

Traceability and transparency play a key role in protecting the EU’s finances. They enable the flow of money to be tracked from source to destination, and make it clear to citizens where the money is going and what it is used for. The RRF finances reforms and investments based on the fulfilment of pre-defined milestones and targets. This is the first time the EU has used financing not linked to costs on such a large scale.

“Citizens have less trust in public finances if money is not spent with full transparency,” said Ivana Maletić, the ECA Member leading the audit. “We do not have a complete picture of how RRF funds are used. Citizens have the right to know how public funds are used, who receives the funds, and how much is actually spent. These RRF transparency gaps should not spill over into the EU’s future budgets.”

The auditors found that while funds are traceable and transparent to a certain extent, the picture remains incomplete. In terms of traceability, countries generally comply with regulatory requirements, and most can track RRF payments from source to final use. However, not all countries collect the required data systematically, and in some cases information is provided only upon request, resulting in delays that can extend over several months. This means the information is less useful for accountability and analysis.

The European Commission does not collect data on actual amounts paid for individual RRF measures, even when member states possess such data. This lack of information undermines the Commission’s ability to assess whether member states have used the RRF funds efficiently. Moreover, at member state level, information on the actual costs of RRF measures is important for adjusting cost estimates and ensuring that the funding received by each country remains close to actual costs. However, countries do not systematically use actual cost data to update estimates in the event of savings or overruns. While some measures experienced cost overruns, in a number of countries the actual costs for most of the completed measures in the auditors’ sample were lower than estimated. If this trend continues, the total RRF funding received by a member state may not be reasonably close to actual costs.

In terms of transparency, the Commission and the member states publish information in line with RRF rules, and provide adequate transparency regarding the achievement of milestones and targets. However, as these are often output- rather than results-oriented, information on results and the achievement of overall objectives is minimal. Furthermore, the RRF’s transparency rules do not provide for full disclosure of the flow of funds. Although all the member states publish the required list of the 100 largest final recipients, this list fails to properly capture the overall use of the money. First, public bodies such as ministries account for more than half of recipients, and member states are not required to publish further payments that these authorities make to contractors through public procurement, meaning that they do not publish them. Second, none of the 10 countries checked by the auditors had gone beyond the minimum number of 100 in their published lists. Public information on who ultimately benefits from the RRF and by how much is thus incomplete.

Background information

The RRF was created in February 2021 as a one-off programme to help EU countries recover from the pandemic and build resilient economies. The Commission implements the Fund under direct management, and bears ultimate responsibility. The RRF had a maximum total value of €723.8 billion, and by the end of January 2026 the Commission had committed €577 billion (€360 billion in grants and €217 billion in loans) to all 27 member states. The RFF finances measures in areas such as the green and digital transitions and will end in August 2026, while payments to member states can be made until the end of this year.

Transparent reporting – including information on actual costs – helps to improve decision-making and promote accountability. Specific issues with RRF transparency and accountability have already been raised by the European Parliament, the European Ombudsman, and the OECD. The ECA has published a number of audit reports on the RRF, including in 2025 a review of lessons to be learnt; all these publications are available here. In this audit, the auditors examined a sample of 10 member states: Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, and Spain.

Special report 14/2026, “RRF traceability and transparency: gaps remain regarding the traceability and transparency of RRF funds”, is available on the ECA website, together with a one-page overview of the key facts and findings.

Contact:

ECA press office: press@eca.europa.eu