Next Generation EU: how the EU’s COVID-19 Recovery Fund should be implemented

How can the resources made available through the EU’s Covid-19 Recovery Fund be used most effectively? Drawing on a new study, Riccardo Crescenzi, Mara Giua and Giulia Sonzogno write that it will be necessary for national governments to mobilise resources through the involvement of relevant stakeholders. To reduce the probability of implementation delays, projects should bypass regional governments in those states where delays are more likely, with citizens given direct involvement in the process through participatory procedures led by central governments.