Former Prime Minister and Head of the Labour Party Delegation at the Socialist and Democratic Group (S&D) Alfred Sant voted in favour of a European Parliament resolution that called for the use of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) as the main funding tool of the European Commission's REPowerEU plan, but raised what he said was a fundamental reservation.

Labour MEP Alfred Sant acknowledged that it is a timely proposal that needs an urgent conclusion. However, he expressed reservations on the extra burdens that it might pose on national administrations. "It has been reported that the first country to have applied for RRF funding, Spain, is experiencing considerable problems to administer and funnel the funding package already allocated", he noted. To this end, he questioned whether it would be wise to increase the burden on national administrations.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine brought to the fore Europe's over-dependence on gas, oil and coal imports from Russia. In May 2022, the European Commission presented the REPowerEU plan. Building on the Fit for 55 package, REPowerEU is about rapidly reducing Europe's dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Two objectives are to quickly susbstitute fossil fuels by accelerating Europe's clean energy transition and smartly combine investments and reforms.

Sant suggested that administrative and procedural burdens should be pared to a minimum, "in order to acelerate the process of activation and disbursement in line with the current emergency. Requirements to repeat processes that have already been followed in the context of the national recovery and resilience plans should not be included," he argued.

While he concurred with the approach to favour cross-border projects in continental Europe, he emphasized that the latter should not put insular regions at a disadvantage because this would pose diffculties to find the right conditions to launch cross-border projects in the field.

The resolution was adopted with 471 votes in favour, 90 against and 53 abstentions.