EU auditors sound alarm over billions in untraceable Covid recovery funds
Key takeaways
- A medical worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-Bio NTech Covid-19 vaccine to a patient in Vannes, France, January 7, 2021.
- At the time, the world's biggest trading bloc was in its deepest-ever recession.
- By January this year, funding had reached an estimated €577 billion.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
A medical worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-Bio NTech Covid-19 vaccine to a patient in Vannes, France, January 7, 2021. STEPHANE MAHE / REUTERS European auditors said Wednesday, May 6, that they're unable to clearly trace the way that billions of euros are being spent out of a massive fund helping European Union countries rebuild their economies from damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) was a system of grants and loans set up in 2020 as authorities in the 27 member countries shut borders, imposed lockdowns and scrambled for vaccines to try to stop the spread of the potentially fatal coronavirus. At the time, the world's biggest trading bloc was in its deepest-ever recession.
By January this year, funding had reached an estimated €577 billion. But in a new report, the European Court of Auditors said that it's difficult to trace how countries allocated part of the money. Thousands of recipients of the funds, including many businesses or big consortiums, are not identified.