Governing the EU’s environmental transition through spending? Loopholes and rule of law concerns in the recovery funds

The EU’s NextGenerationEU (NGEU) recovery plan, and its main operational channel, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), represent a critical macroeconomic initiative aimed at countering the socio-economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic through massive spending. The green transition being one of the founding pillars of the initiative, it may arguably have a substantial impact on the greening of the EU considering the inclusion in the RRF regulation of mechanisms designed to ensure that the funds support the European Green Deal’s climate and broader environmental objectives. This chapter explores the RRF’s green conditionalities and the broader implications of the environmental governance through spending that they embody. While these conditionalities offer opportunities to complement existing environmental legislation, they also generate legal risks, most notably regarding the rule of law, as well as access to justice, public participation, democratic scrutiny and transparency.