How Does the Recovery and Resilience Facility Compare to the Cohesion Policy Funds: The Case of Renewable Energy

This paper provides the first systematic, cross-country empirical comparison of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and Cohesion Policy funds (CPF) in the domain of renewable energy deployment. Covering 14 EU Member States, the analysis combines quantitative cross-country evidence on financing volumes, technology mixes, implementation speed, and reported capacity achievements. The findings show that the RRF represents a major amplification of EU renewable energy financing, with planned allocations exceeding Cohesion Policy expenditure by a factor of five to ten. At the same time, claims of superior performance-based delivery require qualification: green transition financial progress lags the general RRF disbursement rate, milestone fulfilment for renewable energy falls short of planned indicative rates in most countries, and reported operational capacity figures raise concerns about plausibility. The analysis reveals no meaningful correlation between milestone and target fulfilment and progress with renewable energy country-specific recommendations, suggesting that administrative compliance with milestones does not immediately translate into structural reform outcomes. These findings carry direct implications for the design of the post-2027 EU financial framework, particularly regarding the performance indicators, the introduction of attribution protocols for reform-linked achievements, and the preservation of complementarity between performance-based and non-performance-based approaches.