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Research Conference: Understanding the impact of the Recovery and Resilience Facility

RRF Conference website

The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is the EU’s €650 billion post-COVID instrument and supports reforms and investments across different policy areas. As the last year of the RRF implementation has started, the aim of the conference is to take stock of its impact so far. The conference invites the academic and research community to join practitioners from public administrations and international organisations to discuss the research and preliminary evidence available.

The conference will look at the impact of the RRF from multiple angles. A call for papers was launched in 2025 to collect research work on the topic, and its best submissions will be presented at the Conference. In addition, work carried out by Commission services will also feature on the programme.

The event will start with a keynote speech by Valdis Dombrovskis, Commissioner for Economy and Productivity; Implementation and Simplification, followed by a panel discussion among high-level policy practitioners and experts who will share their insights on the impact of the RRF. The day will feature three thematic sessions with presentations of research papers on the RRF, which will be followed by Q&A with the audience. Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms will deliver closing remarks for the event.

On 28 January 2026, a technical session will take place online from 15:00 to 17:00 CET and discuss some papers submitted through the call for papers. 

Methodological exchange - assessing the impact of the RRF using firm level and administrative data

  • What can 240 000 new credit transactions tell us about the impact of NGEU by Alvaro Ortiz (BBVA research), Tomasa Rodrigo (BBVA research), David Sarasa (BBVA research) and Sirena Vazquez (BBVA research)
  • Performance-Based Programs and Efficiency in Public Investment: Some Evidence from Italy’s national Recovery and Resilience Plan by Bucci V., Bugiaretti L., Gatteschi Silvia, and Rotonado F. (Cassa Depositi e Prestiti)   
  • What does it take to organize development projects? Spatial and temporal effects in Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan by Lorenzo Mascioli (Sciences Po) and Lauren Leek (University of Reading)

Registrations to attend the conference will open soon on this webpage.

  • Recovery and Resilience Facility
  • Thursday 29 January 2026, 09:00 - 17:45 (CET)
  • Brussels, Belgium
  • Live streaming available

Programme

  1. 29 Jan 2026, 08:30 - 09:00 (CET)
    Welcome coffee
  2. 09:00 - 09:15 (CET)
    Keynote speech by Valdis Dombrovskis, Commissioner for Economy and Productivity; Implementation and Simplification
  3. 09:15 - 10:30 (CET)
    High-level policy panel discussion

    “The final year of the RRF: taking stock of the impacts so far”

  4. 10:30 - 11:00 (CET)
    Coffee break
  5. 11:00 - 12:00 (CET)
    Assessing the EU’s first performance-based instrument: the Commission’s approach

    An overview of the European Commission’s work to assess the impact of the Recovery and Resilience Facility 

    • Chair: Geraldine Mahieu, Director - Investment, growth and structural reforms, DG ECFIN (European Commission)
  6. 12:00 - 13:00 (CET)
    Research session 1: The macroeconomic impact of the RRF
    • Fiscal Simulus and Productivity: simulating the NGEU program with an endogenous growth model by Ruben Dominguez-Diaz, Samuel Hurtado and Carolina Menendez, Banco de España
    • How can we make the next Next Generation EU perform even better?  By Jerome Creel (Sciences-Po/ OFC&ESCP business school)  

     Chair: Philipp Pfeiffer, Deputy Head of Unit, DG ECFIN (European Commission)

  7. 13:00 - 14:15 (CET)
    Lunch
  8. 14:15 - 15:45 (CET)
    Research session 2: Governance and Reforms – what is the impact of the funding model of the RRF?
    • Negotiated and Negotiable? Contractual Governance and the Flexibility of the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility by Joan Miro (Universitat Pompeo Fabra) and Ana Mar Fernandez Pasarin (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona)
    • The EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility as a “Transition Stabiliser”; analysing government turnover in Italy, the Netherlands and Slovakia by David Bockhorst (Socio-Economic Council of the Netherlands and EUI Florence) and Andrea Capati 

     Chair: Prof. Jonathan Zeitlin, University of Amsterdam

  9. 15:45 - 16:15 (CET)
    Coffee break
  10. 16:15 - 17:45 (CET)
    Research session 3: Employment, green and energy impacts of the RRF
    • The employment activated by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and its characteristics by Gaetano Basso, Luigi Guiso, Matteo Paradisi, Andrea Petrella (Bank of Italy)  
    • Green Tags, Bigger Cheques, and Faster Tracks: Micro-Evidence from the Recovery and Resilience Facility by Muhammad Muddasir (SAG—European Business School, Porto), Ana Pinto Borges (SAG—European Business School, Porto) and Elvira Vieira (SAG—European Business School, Porto)
    • The efficiency of NextGenerationEU: Evidence from solar energy subsidies in Italy using satellite imagery by Jean-Charles Bricongne (Banque de France), Maximilian Freier (European Central Bank), Christian Huber (European Central Bank), Benjamin Lietti (Paris-Saclay University) 

    Chair: Prof. Sonja Bekker, Utrecht University

  12. 17:45 - 18:00 (CET)
    Closing remarks by Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms

Practical information

When
Thursday 29 January 2026, 09:00 - 17:45 (CET)
Where
Charlemagne’s building
Rue de la Loi 170, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Livestream
Starts on Thursday 29 January 2026, 09:00 (CET)
Languages
English