As discussions between Latvia and the European Commission (EC) regarding the submitted draft Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) plan continue, a discussion was held regarding the reforms and investments planned for the rule of law. Health and reduction of inequality were discussed earlier. Discussions are going to continue next week.
The RRF plan for the rule of law provides for investments for reduction of illegal economy in order to promote fair entrepreneurship, identifying legalisation of criminally obtained funds, investigation of economic crimes, modernisation of legal proceedings, and implementation of preventive activities, as well as reforms that would promote smart, good, and innovative management.
Similar to previous discussions, the EC encouraged Latvia to put more emphasis on the reforms planned in the sector and to propose clearer indicators for the measurement of the reform progress, which would better reflect quality proposals of sectoral policy makers for solving the challenges discussed.
The RRF is a new budget programme under the centralised management of the EC, established in addition to the EU multiannual budget for the programming period of 2021 - 2027. The purpose of the facility is to support reforms, the need whereof has been specified in the European Semester Country Specific Recommendations, as well as investments, specifically those related to the transition to a green and digital economy, as well as to reduce the social and economic impact caused by the crisis. Latvia was the first Baltic State to begin discussions with the EC regarding the submitted draft Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) plan. Overall, six themed discussions are planned concerning each direction of the plan, as well as several high level discussions to talk about the reforms and objectives provided for in the RRF plan for Latvia.
Implementation conditions for specific RRF investment projects will be developed after specific planned investment measures are approved by the Cabinet. In accordance with the conditions of the RRF Regulation, the final version of the RRF plan is to be submitted for approval to the EC and the EU Council by 30 April 2021, at the latest. The RRF funds might be available for Latvia in the second half of this year.
The work on the introduction of the RRF is being organised in six directions - climate change and sustainability, digital transformation, transformation of economy and productivity reform, health, reducing inequality and the rule of law. Following the EC recommendations, 20% of the RRF funds are planned to be allocated to digitisation and 37% - for achieving climate objectives. It is planned to allocate EUR 330 million (20% of the RRF funds) for reducing inequality, EUR 181.5 million (11%) – to the health sector projects, EUR 165 million (10%) – to transformation of economy and productivity reforms, and EUR 33 million (2%) – for strengthening the rule of law.
The draft RRF plan is available for review to anyone interested on the MoF website and the EU fund website. Comments and proposals regarding the draft RRF plan and appendices thereto can be submitted in an electronic form by March 9 this year to the email address: rrf@fm.gov.lv.
