Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
D1 Excessive deficit procedure, methodology and GFS
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Eurostat, 5 Rue Alphonse Weicker, 2721 Luxembourg
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
22 January 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
22 January 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
22 January 2025
3.1. Data description
Statistics on the Recovery and Resilience Facility compiled by Eurostat using ESA 2010 methodology.
The data covers items from the financial and the non-financial accounts related to the use of RRF funds.
The data is mainly provided by the National authorities (National Statistical Institutes)
3.2. Classification system
European System of Accounts, 2010 edition (ESA2010).
3.3. Coverage - sector
European non-financial institutions and bodies as defined in ESA2010 (paragraph 19.09), following on the definition of general government sector as defined in ESA2010 (paragraph 2.111) as including "institutional units which are non-market producers whose output is intended for individual and collective consumption, and are financed by compulsory payments made by units belonging to other sectors, and institutional units principally engaged in the redistribution of national income and wealth".
General government sector is defined in ESA 2010 (paragraph 2.111) as including "institutional units which are non-market producers whose output is intended for individual and collective consumption, and are financed by compulsory payments made by units belonging to other sectors, and institutional units principally engaged in the redistribution of national income and wealth"
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The indicators are compiled on a national accounts (ESA 2010) basis.
The total cost is the main aggregate covering all RRF fund uses. It is the sum of expenditure (capital expenditure and current expenditure) and other costs not recorded as expenditure in national accounts (ESA 2010). The capital expenditure is itself broken down into gross fixed capital formation, capital transfers and other capital expenditure.
Gross fixed capital formation expenditure refers to direct investments undertaken by government sector. Capital transfers mainly cover investment grants, paid by government to the units classified outside government to finance their investment.
3.5. Statistical unit
Institutional units and groupings of units as defined in ESA 2010.
3.6. Statistical population
Target population is the general government sector.
3.7. Reference area
EU aggregate and EU Member States.
The revised Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRP) contain loans only in Belgium, Czechia, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia.
3.8. Coverage - Time
The data covers the period from 2020 to 2023 for all EU Member States.
The Facility entered into force on 19 February 2021, while measures are eligible from February 2020 until 31 December 2026. The retroactive application of the RRF financing is established in Regulation 2021/241 (article 17.2)
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Data are expressed in millions of Euro, as percentage of allocation and as percentages of GDP.
For non-euro area countries, Eurostat uses the average annual exchange rate to convert into euros the flows labelled in national currency. Some minor statistical discrepencies can appear with the original amounts.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) allocation is the financial envelope (in grants and in loans) indicated in the approved Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). The value of the envelop used to express the data as percentage of allocation depends on the financial type (grant, loan or total). For the grants (respectively for the loans), the grant (resp. loan) envelop is considered. The EU countries' RRF grant and loan envelopes are available on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) Scoreboard. The total financial envelope of the RRF as at mid-October 2024 stood at €650 billion. This breaks down into €359 billion in grants and €291 billion in loans.
Eurostat uses by default the GDP transmitted in the context of the Excessive Deficit Procedure as denominator in the GDP ratios
The reference period is the calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
National Accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) adopted in the form of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not available.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Confidential data is flagged "C", where other types of blocks exist in the database.
Only authorised staff have access to the database. They have signed appropriate documentation on handling of confidential data.
There are blocks which prevent the inadvertant extraction and publication of confidential data.
8.1. Release calendar
The data release follows the EDP notifications, when National statistical institutes provide Eurostat with data related to RRF flows.
8.2. Release calendar access
See 8.1
8.3. Release policy - user access
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
Annual data. All data is disseminated twice a year.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
not available.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Statistics Explained article
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Please consult free data on-line.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not available.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not available.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Eurostat Guidance note on the statistical recording of the Recovery and Resilience Facility
10.7. Quality management - documentation
The progress in respect of data availability and quality is reviewed and reported in internal Eurostat's documents.
11.1. Quality assurance
The plausibility of the data is checked for each transmission and Member States are asked for some additional information in case of any doubts about data quality.
However, due to the complexity, volume and heterogeneity of data sources, quality assurance is based to a large extent on assessing primary sources and processes rather than the final product. Eurostat undertakes EDP dialogue and methodological visits to Member States, during which it reviews RRF financial and non-financial flows.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
A quality assessment procedure is in place that involves arithmetic and quality checks as well as checks on consistency with ESA2010 and other government datasets (financial government accounts) by Eurostat.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Data are used for analysis of RRF implementation, public finances of Member States and Fiscal Policies in general.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available.
12.3. Completeness
All Member States provide data. One Member State refused to give public access to part of the data.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Data for government finance statistics are in general associated with a high level of overall accuracy.
13.2. Sampling error
Not available.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not available.
14.1. Timeliness
Not available.
14.2. Punctuality
Not available.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The underlying methodological framework is the European system of accounts (ESA2010), which ensures a high degree of comparability.
15.2. Comparability - over time
ESA2010 requires time series to be consistent over time, which are produced by most of the EU Member States.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
The cross-domain coherence checking concentrates (but is not limited to) on the consistency of government datasets (non-financial data vs financial data).
15.4. Coherence - internal
Datasets are carefully checked for the internal consistency.
All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data.
Corrections are carried out in connection with the regular scheduled data dissemination/in connection with next scheduled regular revision.
18.1. Source data
Annual national accounts data, primarily derived from administrative and other records of general government.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data collection is bi-annual, in the framework of the EDP notification.
18.3. Data collection
The collection of the data is carried out with the use of the relevant annex table of the ESA2010 transmission programme. Once data are compiled by national authorities in the reporting format, they are transmitted via Edamis in SDMX format to Eurostat.
In some cases, such as delays in edamis delivery or problems in the conversion to SDMX, data can be sent via email.
18.4. Data validation
Data are loaded into Eurostat Reference Database once validated by Eurostat. The validation process consists of arithmetic and quality checks including consistency with ESA2010 methodology and with other data reported to Eurostat as well as a number of further plausibility checks.
18.5. Data compilation
Accounting conventions are those of ESA2010.
Percentage of GDP calculations are based on annual GDP data submitted to Eurostat.
EU and euro area series are formed by the aggregation of the country data.
18.6. Adjustment
Data are not adjusted.
Please also consult the latest EDP news release for any specific or general explanatory notes.
Statistics on the Recovery and Resilience Facility compiled by Eurostat using ESA 2010 methodology.
The data covers items from the financial and the non-financial accounts related to the use of RRF funds.
The data is mainly provided by the National authorities (National Statistical Institutes)
22 January 2025
The indicators are compiled on a national accounts (ESA 2010) basis.
The total cost is the main aggregate covering all RRF fund uses. It is the sum of expenditure (capital expenditure and current expenditure) and other costs not recorded as expenditure in national accounts (ESA 2010). The capital expenditure is itself broken down into gross fixed capital formation, capital transfers and other capital expenditure.
Gross fixed capital formation expenditure refers to direct investments undertaken by government sector. Capital transfers mainly cover investment grants, paid by government to the units classified outside government to finance their investment.
Institutional units and groupings of units as defined in ESA 2010.
Target population is the general government sector.
EU aggregate and EU Member States.
The revised Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRP) contain loans only in Belgium, Czechia, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia.
The reference period is the calendar year.
Data for government finance statistics are in general associated with a high level of overall accuracy.
Data are expressed in millions of Euro, as percentage of allocation and as percentages of GDP.
For non-euro area countries, Eurostat uses the average annual exchange rate to convert into euros the flows labelled in national currency. Some minor statistical discrepencies can appear with the original amounts.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) allocation is the financial envelope (in grants and in loans) indicated in the approved Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). The value of the envelop used to express the data as percentage of allocation depends on the financial type (grant, loan or total). For the grants (respectively for the loans), the grant (resp. loan) envelop is considered. The EU countries' RRF grant and loan envelopes are available on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) Scoreboard. The total financial envelope of the RRF as at mid-October 2024 stood at €650 billion. This breaks down into €359 billion in grants and €291 billion in loans.
Eurostat uses by default the GDP transmitted in the context of the Excessive Deficit Procedure as denominator in the GDP ratios
Accounting conventions are those of ESA2010.
Percentage of GDP calculations are based on annual GDP data submitted to Eurostat.
EU and euro area series are formed by the aggregation of the country data.
Annual national accounts data, primarily derived from administrative and other records of general government.
Annual data. All data is disseminated twice a year.
Not available.
The underlying methodological framework is the European system of accounts (ESA2010), which ensures a high degree of comparability.
ESA2010 requires time series to be consistent over time, which are produced by most of the EU Member States.
