The economic and social recovery, as well as the green and digital transitions, can only succeed if local and regional authorities are directly involved in preparing and implementing the national recovery and resilience plans (NRRPs). A close partnership among all levels of governance, social partners and NGOs is of paramount importance to ensure that NRRPs match territorial needs and avoid overlaps with other EU policies and funds. These are the main messages sent to national governments and EU institutions through an opinion drafted by ECR First Vice-President Rob Jonkman, Alderman in the municipality of Opsterland in the Netherlands. 

 Members of the European Committee of the Regions regret that, in most Member States, preparing the NRRPs has been mainly a top-down process and voice their concerns over the lack of sub-national involvement in the implementation and evaluation phases. This approach carries the risk of centralising important public investments and overlooking territorial differences, thus undermining the impact of recovery plans.

 As a consequence, MrJonkman argues in his opinion that "regions that were already lagging behind in their development before the outbreak of the pandemic could suffer an even greater development gap, be it in employment, business support, digitalisation or other key policy areas".

Calling the agreement on the Recovery and Resilience Facility "historic" rapporteur Jonkman adds that it is "an ambitious tool to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis. However, while local and regional authorities have been at the forefront of the fight to cope with the socio-economic consequences from the beginning of the pandemic, in many Member States we are at the back of the pack when it comes to involvement in recovery plans. We are in need of cooperation, not centralisation."