Fiscal and budgetary policy for Social Europe

Lessons from and beyond the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF)

Wednesday 4 November 2026 – 9.00–16:00

The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the massive financial package at the heart of the EU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is coming to an end. The RRF’s design introduced several important innovations, including making disbursements conditional upon national policy reforms and placing a strong emphasis on national ownership.
This conference will take stock of RRF’s impact on national socio-economic reforms and explore the lessons that can be drawn for the revamped European Semester, as well as for the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework (2028-2034) and its envisaged National and Regional Partnership Plans.

The event will build on findings from the “PEGAP” project (Post-pandemic Economic Governance Amidst Politicisation), carried out at Erasmus University Rotterdam and financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). It will bring together policy-makers, academics, and social partner representatives. Together, we will discuss how effective national social reforms can be achieved, how a meaningful role for social partners and territorial institutions can be ensured, and how European priorities can be balanced with national ownership in a changing EU governance architecture.

The project ‘Post-pandemic Economic Governance Amidst Politicisation’ (PEGAP) has been conducted by the Erasmus University Rotterdam and financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).