NextGenerationEU: European Commission to issue €50 billion of bonds in the second half of 2022 to finance the recovery

The funds will go to support Member States' economic recovery following the coronavirus pandemic under the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Alongside funding for NextGenerationEU, the Commission may also be called upon to issue up to €9 billion for loans to support Ukraine under a new exceptional Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) programme and up to €6.6 billion for loans under the SURE programme, subject to Member States' requests and completion of relevant procedures.

Commissioner in charge of Budget and Administration, Johannes Hahn, said: “Building on our good performance as a large-scale issuer to date, in the second half of the year we will continue to support the recovery, fund the green and digital transitions and Europe's long-term resilience through market funding.”

Issuances in the second half of 2022 will build on the successful execution of the NextGenerationEU recovery programme to date. Since June 2021, when the Commission debuted on the market with NextGenerationEU, issuances under the programme stand at €118.5 billion via long-term EU-Bonds, of which €28 billion through the NextGenerationEU green bond issuance. In addition, the Commission continued to raise funds under its back-to-back funding programmes – SURE, MFA and European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM). Most recently, and in response to the war in Ukraine, the Commission successfully disbursed €1.2 billion under an emergency MFA programme.

In the first half of 2022, the Commission has so far issued €47.5 billion of EU-bonds, in respect of its €50 billion funding target. A further bond auction is planned for 27 June 2022. Its issuance in the first half of 2022 has been fully in line with the amounts communicated in the funding plan for the period January-June 2022.

The current funding plan is based on the latest forecasts for forthcoming NextGenerationEU payment needs. Payments under the Recovery and Resilience Facility – which accounts for 90% of payments under NextGenerationEU – depend on completion of milestones and targets in Member States' national Recovery and Resilience Plans. As a result, the precise timing and volumes may vary. However, the European Commission is confident that the amounts communicated in this funding plan should remain stable.

In line with its diversified funding strategy, the Commission will continue to use a mix of syndications and auctions, as well as short-term EU-Bills. This will enable it to obtain the best possible market conditions and be able to meet the payment needs of the EU Member States.

Thanks to this approach, the Commission has so far been able to disburse €100 billion under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and several billion under other EU budget programmes which benefit from NextGenerationEU financing.

The Commission will announce its issuance plans for the first half of 2023 at the end of the year.

Background

NextGenerationEU is a temporary recovery instrument of more than €800 billion in current prices to support Europe's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and help build a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe.

To finance NextGenerationEU, the European Commission – on behalf of the EU – will raise from the capital markets around €800 billion between mid-2021 and end-2026.

Around 30% of the funds are being raised via NextGenerationEU green bonds, issued in respect of the NextGenerationEU green bond framework.

In parallel to NextGenerationEU, the Commission runs several back-to-back funding programmes to finance specific needs of the EU's Member States and third countries.

For More Information

EU funding plan July-December 2022

Q&A diversified funding strategy

EU funding plan January-June 2022

EU as a borrower website