About
‘What the chief says’ events are exclusive, small, informal and off the record regular roundtable debates which offer our members the exclusive opportunity to engage directly and get to the heart of a specific policy issue with a senior decisionmaker from a European institution or government. These events are geared to be in tune with the interest of our members and are strategically linked to emerging trends within the EU sphere. It allows us to focus on the opportunities and identify the possible challenges in the European Commission’s own agenda and provides the possibility to go into greater depth and discuss the ‘nitty gritty’ of policies affecting Europe in the next five years and beyond.
The speaker gives a short, 10-minute introduction to the topic under discussion, after which the floor is open to any possible comments or questions which may be posed to the speaker for the remaining 50 minutes.
Schedule
With member states’ national recovery plans due to be submitted to the European Commission by end-April, how are they making the most of the largest stimulus package ever financed through the EU budget?
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) will offer large-scale financial support for investment and reforms, supporting member states in their efforts to ‘build back better’ in the aftermath of the health, social and economic crises which have shaken Europe and the world over the last year. Underlining the Facility is the mandate that all recovery and resilience plans must dedicate a minimum of 37% of expenditure to climate investment and reform and 20% to fostering the digital transition.
As the final recovery and resilience plans are submitted to the Commission throughout the month, they will serve as a window into how member states plan to answer the call of the twin green and digital transitions. Critical, however, will be to have the mechanisms in place to ensure that states are meeting their targets.
- How has the overall involvement of civil society been in the drafting of the national plans?
- How can recovery plans be used as an opportunity to level the playing field across the EU?
- What instruments should be in place to measure member states’ progress in implementation?
- How will citizens benefit from projects set out in these plans?
Speakers
Dragoș Pîslaru
Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, and former Romanian minister of labour, the family, social welfare and the elderly
Moderator
Dharmendra Kanani
Director, Asia, Peace, Security & Defense, Digital & Chief spokesperson
Speakers
Dragoș Pîslaru
Show more information on Dragoș Pîslaru
Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, and former Romanian minister of labour, the family, social welfare and the elderly
Dragoș Pîslaru is a Romanian economist and politician. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 2019 on behalf of USR PLUS, affiliated with the European political group, Renew Europe. He is a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Subcommittee on Tax Matters. Pîslaru is also the co-rapporteur on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the largest financial instrument created by the European Union for the economic recovery of the Union after the pandemic.
Dharmendra Kanani
Show more information on Dharmendra Kanani
Director, Asia, Peace, Security & Defense, Digital & Chief spokesperson
Prior to joining Friends of Europe, Dharmendra Kanani was director of policy at the European Foundation Centre (EFC). He was the England director at the Big Lottery Fund, the largest independent funder in the UK and fourth largest in the world. Dharmendra has held senior positions in the public and voluntary sector and advisor to numerous ministerial policy initiatives across the UK.
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- Area of Expertise
- Climate, Energy & Sustainability
