The main message of this contribution is that lean times are here to stay for the old member states. The main reasons are deep seated: Deteriorating demographics continue with ratio of working age population to total population falling. There are thus fewer and fewer producers for every consumer...

Key messages: The Policy Brief analyzes to what extent the funds provided by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) are used by member states to finance new projects (additionality of public investments). The analysis shows that in the EU-27 there is no significant relationship between the...